Housing supply crisis slides
The Australian property market is currently recording about 4.1 months of effective housing supply, new data has found.
According to RP Data’s latest research, Australia is currently in the midst of a terrible housing shortage, with Melbourne the worst sufferer.
RP Data’s research analyst Cameron Kusher found Melbourne has the lowest current effective supply at 2.8 months, while Perth and Brisbane have the greatest effective supply recorded at 9.0 and 5.9 months respectively.
The Perth results indicate that this market remains consistent and has recorded the greatest effective supply amongst all of the capital cities since the beginning of 2007.
According to Mr Kusher, the Perth market has been recording a poor market performance for much of the period following the significant surge in property values recorded in the city between 2005 and 2007.
He said that since that time, sales volumes have become sluggish and clearly, a significant volume of properties have been available for sale which has resulted in an elevated level of effective supply.
The soft market conditions within the city are reflected by the fact that on average there was 7.6 months of effective supply in the Perth market - property values increased by 4.4 per cent since the beginning of 2007.
“Melbourne on the other hand has the lowest effective supply amongst major capital cities (2.8 months) and recorded one of the strongest levels of growth in values between the start of 2007 and August 2010 increasing by a total of 51.2 per cent; the strong market conditions over this timeframe have resulted in increasing demand for properties and as a result, those listed for sale have been being rapidly consumed by the market,” Mr Kusher said.