Archive for August 2010 | Monthly archive page
THE Mornington Peninsula has been named one of Australia’s top 100 investment locations.
It is listed in the Australian Property Investor magazine’s third annual “Hot 100” list, published this month.
The area is one of only 11 “cluster” hotspots in the country, thanks to the inclusion of Frankston, Seaford and Hastings.
Property researchers from around the country were asked to name the suburbs they believed would show the best capital growth in the next 12 months. The suburbs also had to offer good growth in the medium- to long-term.
Terry Ryder of property forecaster hotspotting.com.au said the peninsula had “excellent” long-term growth prospects.
“Prospects are set to be enhanced through construction of the $700 million Peninsula Link freeway which, combined with EastLink, will make it much easier to get to central Melbourne.”
MELBOURNE property prices have gone backwards after 17 months of strong gains that increased the typical price for a house from $404,636 to $500,000.
One of the nation’s most comprehensive property price-tracking indexes shows Melbourne property prices following a national downturn in June.
The latest RP Data-Rismark property index has dwelling prices slipping in all Australian capitals with Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane dropping the most.
Sydney prices performed better than Melbourne but were largely stagnant and Adelaide prices continued to grow at a healthy 1.1 per cent.
”Australian dwelling values remained flat with effectively no growth,” the RP Data-Rismark report said. In terms of the June quarter, ”this represents a striking deceleration in the quarterly rate of increase in home values”.
The slowdown in property prices will be welcome news for first home buyers increasingly priced out of the market, but is also likely to favour buyers at the top end where prices declined most.
”Most of the pain is really at the top end of the market,” RP Data research director Tim Lawless said. ”It’s a little more severe in Melbourne than around the rest of the country.”
The RP Data-Rismark index is typically ahead of other indexes in picking up property trends as it compares ”like sales” with ”like sales” so as not to distort the market by changes in the composition of the stock sold.
New figures from the Reserve Bank show growth in housing credit slowed sharply to just 0.4 per cent in June – its slowest growth for any month since July 1984.
In a further sign that the economy is losing pace, the bank reports that credit growth among owner-occupiers slumped to a mere 0.3 per cent – the lowest of any month on record.
June quarter growth was just 1.4 per cent, also the lowest on record.
The growth now is mostly in loans to housing investors, which rose by 0.6 per cent in June and by 2 per cent in the quarter.
The total growth in lending in June was just 0.2 per cent, the weakest recorded this year. Business credit was flat, and the stock of personal loans shrank by 0.3 per cent.
Recent data has shown the economy faltering under the impact of six rate rises, renewed fears on global markets, and the winding down of federal government stimulus spending.
The downward spiral in prices was likely to delay the onset of another interest rate rise and appease the Reserve Bank, which has raised rates six times since October, Mr Lawless said.
”We had always argued that the May rate hike was a step too far,” CommSec chief economist Craig James said. ”But it will be important now for the Reserve Bank to stay on the interest rate sidelines to give shell-shocked consumers and home buyers a chance to catch their breath.”
The news will worry vendors as buyers are less likely to bid at auction if they feel prices are not likely to rise.
Saturday July 31st 2010
Demand improved at this weekends residential auctions with a clearance rate of 71 per cent recorded, an increase from last weeks 66 per cent.
This result will provide encouragement and confidence to vendors with homes listed for auction between now and the federal election. An interest rate increase next week would reduce that confidence.
There was a total of 541 auctions reported this weekend, of which a total of 382 sold and 159 were passed in, 103 of those on a vendors bid.
This weekend last year saw 374 auctions, well under this weekend and a clearance rate of 87 per cent.
Next weekend the REIV expects 520 auctions.
House Sales in Detail
TOP 5 HOUSES
1. 58 Washington Street, Toorak $3,350,000
2. 42 Bayles Street, Parkville $1,701,000
3. 114 Maltravers Road, Eaglemont $1,700,000
4. 14 Green Street, Windsor $1,652,000
5. 27 Boorool Road, Kew East $1,582,000
TOP 5 BARGAIN HOUSES
1. 4 Burke Road, Sunbury $190,000
2. 21 Fugosia Street, Doveton $300,000
3. 21 Talgarno Street, Broadmeadows $320,000
4. 96 Ashenden Square, Rosebud $321,000
5. 12 Radiata Court, Mill Park $325,000
Flat/Apartment Sales in Detail
TOP 5 APARTMENTS
11. 1/29 Lewisham Road, Windsor $1,265,000
2. 609/108 Bay Street, Port Melbourne $1,200,000
3. 10 Butler Street, Camberwell $1,072,000
4. 43 Myrtle Street, South Yarra $982,500
5. 35/85 Rouse Street, Port Melbourne $970,000
TOP 5 BARGAIN APARTMENTS
1. 1/88-94 Franklin Street, Melbourne $260,000
2. 1/160 Bayswater Road, Croydon South $290,000
3. 2/139 Melrose Drive, Tullamarine $292,500
4. 3/42 Middle Road, Maribyrnong $295,000
5. 6/4-6 Burnewang Street, Albion $298,000