Property News Update – 1st Edition 2021.
Hi Guys, it’s Dean OBrien with another edition of the Property News for 2021 where real estate information is on the house.
Despite 2020 finishing on a very positive note with strong sales activity and price growth, 2021 for Metro Melbourne has started with listing activity slow to come out the blocks. The contrary though is occurring in regional holiday areas with agencies being run off their feet with both listings and sales.
Once the majority of holiday makers return from their sabbaticals later this month, we expect metro listing activity to increase as home owners start to put their plans in place and progress their property aspirations. And why is property so aspirationational and why does almost 1 in 2 people say property is their first choice when it comes to investment? This graph will help to explain. Although the graph is only showing up to December 2017 you get the idea how interest rates drive real estate prices, you can see since the late 80’s when interest where at 17% and how prices changed according to the interest rate movements.
There is a lot of commentary out there regarding the post covid boom but when you look at this graph it’s simply a low interest rate environment that will quite simply move more and more people to property investment.
Here’s the December Home Price data released by from Corelogic earlier in January.
In Metro Melbourne we saw combined dwellings price increase overall by 1.0% for the month which is approximately a $10,000 increase in the median house price. In Regional Victoria we again saw exceptional growth with 1.8% for the month finishing the year 5.6% up with a median house price a little over $416,000.
In market news this week. China’s ‘V’-shaped economic recovery is complete with economic growth now at pre-pandemic levels in the December quarter. In fact, GDP is at its strongest pace in two years.
Population numbers released shows Victoria has lost its crown as the fastest growing state which it held for the past 6 years. Queensland is now the fastest growing Aussie State.
Mortgage deferrals fall to a quarter of their peak according to the latest APRA figures. Frozen mortgages are down to below $50 billion, while frozen business loans are down to $7.6 billion, from a peak of $195 billion and $55 billion respectively.
ABS reported, council approvals to build new homes rose by 2.6 per cent to 28-month highs in November. House approvals rose by 5.9 per cent but apartment approvals fell by 3.9 per cent.
Moving onto the OBrien numbers for the week, we had a lighter than usual week in listing numbers with 75 new listings launching, 76 properties going under offer, 75 selling with a top price sale of $2.77 million.
OBrien Real Estate Listings, Sales and Homes Under Offer January 9th – 15th, 2021
That’s all for this week, I’m Dean OBrien and remember the information provided is of a general nature you should always seek independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice in relation to your unique circumstances.