Archive for January, 2009
On the last Saturday of major sales activity in 2007, 1132 properties went to auction, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (SHS, December 15).
Last month, as the industry filed its final big weekend of sales results for 2008, 609 auctions were staged, more than 500 fewer.
Almost one in two properties taken to auction failed to sell under the hammer between last October 18 and December 13, excluding Melbourne Cup weekend when the clearance rate returned to 66 per cent.
Yet private sale numbers have barely shifted.
There were 639 private sales reported to the REIV in the week before Christmas 2008 — 683 private sales were reported in the same week in 2007.
Private sales represented about 52 per cent of all sales reported to the REIV between December 7 and December 13, 2008. A year earlier, private sales made up about 37 per cent of all property sales between December 9 and December 15.
New home sales slumped in November, suggesting deep interest rate cuts and a government stimulus may take time to lure buyers back into the market. Queensland reported the biggest dive.
Sales of new houses nationally fell by 1.1% in November, the Housing Industry Association said, compared with a 3.1% increase in October.
"A lack of available credit and general economic uncertainty saw investors sitting on the sidelines in the second half of 2008," said HIA chief executive Chris Lamont, in a statement.
The Reserve Bank’s interest rate retreat late last year, slashing the cash rate from 7.25% to 4.25% in the space of four months, is aimed at re-igniting demand in the economy, particularly in the housing sector. The government announced in October a tripling of the first-time home buyers’ grant, which came into effect last month, as part of a $10.4 billion stimulus plan.
Consumers, however, remain wary of the gloomy outlook for jobs and slowing growth, analysts say.
Nationwide homes sales edged down 0.4%, while apartments and duplex dropped 5.3%, a victim of the credit shortage.
The once red-hot Queensland housing market tumbled, with new homes sinking 10.1% in November, as the outlook for the resource-based economy whithered. Queensland’s fall obliterated increases seen in the four mainland states.
Western Australian new home sales gained nearly 8%, followed by New South Wales which increased 3.8%,
In South Australia new home sales nudged up 1.8%, while Victoria’s eked out 0.9% growth for the month.
"The overall profile for new home sales remains weak, although there is early evidence of an improvement in Victoria and a stabilisation in Western Australia," said Mr Lamont.
VICTORIAN property values have plummeted about $40 billion in the past six months.
Melbourne’s median house price of $450,000 mid-2008 is now down to $427,500, according to estimates.
And house price expectations across Australia have sunk to an all-time low, a new report says.
Victoria’s $800 billion residential property market has dropped 5 per cent - or $40 billion - overall since July, according to BIS Shrapnel calculations prepared for the Herald Sun.
The trend has opened the door for potential borrowers desperate for cheaper housing.
Read the full article here: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24881569-5013926,00.html
HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of people at risk of homelessness will gather outside strangers’ front doors across Melbourne this month.
More people search for a rental property in January than in any other month, according to rental trends data to be released today by realestate.com.au.
Melbourne’s average rental rate has risen in recent years.
In October 2005, tenants paid $277 on average to rent a house and $258 for a unit, based on RP Data statistics.
By October last year, average rental rates had jumped to $361 for a house in Melbourne and $326 for a unit. That’s an increase of about 33 per cent in three years.
Caroline James from the Herald Sun has written an interesting article which can be viewed here: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24868648-5013926,00.html
Mark
Alex Brooks from the Sydney Morning Herald has written an interesting article on what to expect from property in 2009 from both bullish and bearish analysts.
Read the full article here:
Mark Forytarz
ABOUT
Mark Forytarz, Director at Castran Gilbert, views on the Australian real estate marketplace