Published on 06 February 2006 at 12:41 pm
Filed in Property News for Australia » Healthy Growth in Australia’s Property Market
According to a report in The Australian newspaper published today, property prices in Australia’s main capital cities are finally on the increase again after having suffered an uncomfortable period of slow growth.
The report is based on findings by the Real Estate Institute in Victoria and market statistics from estate agencies in the main Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane; and all reports highlight the fact that the December quarter saw more market activity, increased investor confidence and higher property prices being paid for real estate in Australia.
One of the cities that experienced the greatest surge of interest and also price gains was Perth. Named by The Economist magazine as one of the most expensive cities for real estate in the world already, the city and its suburbs are particularly in demand which means that the price increases it has enjoyed already appear to be sustainable at least for the medium term.
Two particularly positive factors that are helping the Australian property market bounce back from a period of mild depression are attractively low mortgage interest rates and the fact that the Australian economy is perhaps at its strongest for decades. This in itself is helping to attract more skilled people to apply for immigration to Australia and these people bring a fresh supply of demand and wealth to the property market place.
Countries that are particularly attractive for migrants like Australia, New Zealand and Canada will always have a housing market that benefits from this boost of externally sourced wealth. Skilled immigrants, the likes of which Australia actively and successfully targets, not only bring externally sourced wealth to boost the property market they also help boost the numbers of first time buyers entering the property market; this means that the whole flow of the market can continues even when local first time buyers are struggling to get on the property ladder. This does prevent the property market in Australia from ever completely stagnating which is an incredibly positive factor and one recognised by property investors looking for the strongest markets in the world in which to invest.
And finally, to summarise the key statistics in The Australian’s report into the current state of the property market in Australia: investors with investment property in Melbourne enjoyed an average 5.6% growth in the December quarter; the Sydney property market saw a massive increase in activity in January 2006 with the numbers of properties exchanging hands up 30% on the previous January; and a skills shortage is hitting the construction industry particularly hard in Western Australia and restricting the amount of new property being completed which means the forecast for property prices especially in this part of the country is particularly favourable as demand will outstrip supply creating a price bubble.
The original report: -
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18049105%255E2702,00.html
