Affordable Locations Lead Growth
Hotspotting
A recurring theme in many markets around the nation is that the local growth leaders are the more affordable locations. Our new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index shows that Sydney overall is down, but many of its cheaper areas still have good demand. Perth is buoyant, led by the affordable precincts. It’s a similar story in Brisbane and Adelaide, with very strong buyer demand in the more affordable areas in particular. And in Melbourne, where the millionaire precincts have shown evidence of decline, the most affordable LGAs still have lots of growth markets. Find out more in the...
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Key States For Property Investment in 2022
Hotspotting
We’ve just published the new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index and it shows that Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia are the key places where real estate consumers should be focusing their attention. While this Winter 2022 survey of sales activity across Australia shows a marked decline in the Sydney market, we have identified Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide as the capital cities where sales activity remains strong and prices are tipped to keep rising. The regional areas outside those three cities are also over-achievers. Find out more nad get a copy of the report....
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Avoiding Media Misinformation
Hotspotting
If you’re someone who wants to understand what’s really going on in real estate markets around Australia, here’s the key thing you have to do: When data on the property market is published, get a copy of the actual report. Don’t read what the media says is in the report. Get a copy of the report itself. In most cases, the reports – from research entities like Domain, SQM Research and CoreLogic - are free and easily accessible. And when you look at the data in many of the reports on prices, you will notice the stark differences between what the reports say, and what the media claims...
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Consumers Reject Negative Headlines
Hotspotting
Despite daily media articles declaring that property prices are set to fall 15% or 20% or more, most Australians don’t believe it. That’s according to the latest Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker. The Finder survey sought people’s views of what they expect to happen with house prices in the next 12 months - and very few, it seems, are expecting prices to fall. Even in Sydney and Melbourne, where economists and commentators have declared prices to be falling already, only about 20% of consumers believe prices in their local area will fall in the next 12 months. It seems to me that...
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Using Sales Activity To Predict Price Growth
Hotspotting
An easy way to see where future property price growth is going to occur – or not occur - is to look at transaction numbers. When sales numbers lift, it means competition for properties is increasing, and what generally flows from that is price growth. Sales activity numbers are a great forward indicator of what will happen with prices and is actually a much better barometer of what is about to happen in the market than looking at median house price data. The figures on changes in median prices published by various research companies lag the market – they tell us what has happened,...
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Brisbane Airbnb move just a cash grab
Hotspotting
One of the skills Australian politicians have mastered over the years is finding ways to raise ever more revenue from the housing industry, but pretending that any new measures they’re introducing are actually motivated by a desire to fix housing affordability or a housing shortage. The latest shameless exercise by a government entity to do this has come from the Brisbane City Council, which rules over a large chunk of the Brisbane metropolitan area. The Brisbane council, headed by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, wants to raise some extra revenue from every politician’s favourite cash...
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The Exodus To Affordable Lifestyle - Its here to stay.
Hotspotting
Media keeps telling us that the trend I call the Exodus to Affordable Lifestyle was caused by Covid and that once the pandemic is dealt with the trend will reverse and everyone will move back to the big cities. Well, they certainly got that wrong. The trend of people leaving the big cities and moving to the regions, or the smaller cities, has been under way for a long time. This trend is not about the pandemic – it’s about technology allowing people to work remotely and it’s about accessing a better lifestyle at an affordable price. It’s a long-term trend and it’s here to stay. ...
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Understanding Price Data Differences
Hotspotting
With so many organisations analysing the property market, it can be hard to determine just who has the right reading on what is happening with prices across Australia. And there is the distinct possibility that none of them is correct. I recently did an online search for the median house price for a particular suburb and came up with six different figures from six different data sources. The difference between the highest and lowest figures was more than $100,000 – the lowest was $628,000 and the highest was $737,000. You can search any suburb or town in the nation and you will find similar...
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Adelaide Leads Capital City Australia On Sales And Price Growth
Hotspotting
The Adelaide market continues to operate at unprecedented levels and right now is arguably the busiest and most competitive market in capital city Australia. It presents an attractive proposition for investors:- - It remains one of the most affordable cities in the nation, - its prices are growing faster than any other capital city, - it has the lowest vacancy rate, and - its rental growth is leading the nation. Our new edition of reveals the markets within the Adelaide metropolitan area that I expect to excel for the rest of 2022 and into the future.
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Housing Affordability Remains a Hot Topic
Hotspotting
After 18 months of stellar price growth pretty much everywhere in Australia, affordability is more of an issue now than ever before. And, as we head towards the Federal Election, it’s clear that the problem isn’t going to be solved any time soon, because none of the major parties have policies that will make the cost of housing cheaper. There are policies that may make it easier for young buyers to get a loan to buy an expensive house or apartment, but nothing to address the high costs of creating dwellings in this country. So this is an issue for all sorts of buyers, not just first-home...
info_outlineIn my column on Property Observer this week, I discuss how to understand the different real estate markets and what causes them - it's a lot more than low interest rates.