Is a new housing boom upon us?
Historically low interest rates and changes to APRA’s serviceability rates have led the property market into a new boom, new analysis has shown.
SQM has flagged that capital city asking prices have increased by 1.5 per cent for houses and 1.4 per cent for units in just one month to October 2019.
Sydney’s median house asking price has increased by 1.9 per cent for houses and 0.8 per cent for units. Median prices in the harbour city are now $1.305 million, not far off January 2018’s peak of $1.39 million.
SQM’s managing director, Louis Christopher, expressed his belief that the housing market has entered a boom.
“Turning to Sydney, the evidence, by way of the fall in listings, the rise in auction clearance rates, and the accelerated rise in asking prices, all suggest that the city has indeed entered into a new housing boom,” the managing director stated.
SQM also indicated that Melbourne is showing the strongest growth out of all the capitals, with monthly growth of 2.1 per cent.
Melbourne’s current median house price is $959,600 for houses, which shows it is inching closer to its $1.008 million high from April 2018.
Commenting on the Melbourne growth, Mr Christopher said he thinks “we can expect to record rapid rises in dwelling prices for our two largest cities at least in the December quarter and likely beyond”.
Brisbane is also on its way back up, with SQM showing a 1.2 per cent value increase across houses in the Queensland capital and a 0.3 per cent value increase for units over September alone.
Perth’s house and unit market has declined marginally by 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
Darwin’s values have also seen a decline: 0.9 per cent for houses and 0.8 per cent for units.
Australia-wide, the median unit asking price in Australia is now $568,300, while a house will set an investor back $942,400.