Archive for the ‘Market Reports, Commentry and blog’ Category
By MARY COSTELLO
July 6, 2010
- If you’ve decided to sell your property, it’s important to have an accurate idea of its worth.
The selling price will depend partly on the property itself and partly on the state of the market.
A good real estate agent can give you an idea of what your house will sell for, based on his experience of local sales.
But agents are not qualified valuers, and they have a vested interest in the selling process that won’t always coincide with the best interests of the vendor.
Some agents may over-quote to secure a listing, or under-quote when they see the chance of a quick sale.
Buyers needing an accurate valuation are advised to use a professional property valuer accredited by the Australian Property Institute.
Adam Takacs, a certified practising valuer (CPV), says: ‘‘An estate agent can give an appraisal, but that appraisal can’t be used for anything. A CPV provides a client with an independent, professional, unbiased valuation for a fixed fee.
‘‘You’ll get a written report, including information on recent local sales, giving a valuation of what your property could be sold for in the current market, in a reasonable amount of time.
A fair market value is not a fire-sale price, nor a price where you’d have to hold on for an extended period of time to sell.
‘‘Half of my private clients are separating or divorcing, and they need a sworn valuation to take to court.’’
A valuation prepared by a fully qualified CPV can be submitted to the courts, to government bodies such as the tax office, and to banks and other financial institutions.
The cost of a valuation starts at $440, including GST, for a residential dwelling under $1 million, but will vary depending on the property.
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
THE completion of EastLink and the first home buyers’ grant has seen property prices boom in Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs.
The Valuer-General Victoria, Robert Marsh, released his two-yearly general revaluation of 2.6 million Victorian properties, valuing the state’s residential, rural, commercial and industrial properties at a whopping $1.26 trillion, up 20 per cent in two years.
The Valuer-General uses land and market values to price properties and the results will be used by the state’s 79 councils to calculate rates from July 1 this year.
“It’s important to keep in mind, that an increase in values does not mean an increase in rates,” Mr Marsh said.
The total value of the 2.1 million residential properties assessed rose 20 per cent to $976 billion; the median house price jumped from $399,000 in June 2007 to $460,000 in June this year.
The Valuer-General’s spokesman, Greg Stevens, said properties in in the outer Melbourne suburbs neighbouring the Peninsula Freeway and EastLink had also jumped more than 20 per cent in value, and were singled out as the city’s prime moving real estate, particularly for first home buyers.
“They were the big movers in the revaluation this time around,” Mr Stevens said.
“There’s no doubt the property prices have clearly shown a direct relationship to the first home buyers’ scheme.
“It’s on the Peninsula Freeway arm, in areas such as Pakenham, Berwick, Narre Warren, Rye, Tookarook; they were low-value properties, and their values certainly increased at a faster rate than the average dwelling.”
Dandenong real estate agent Doriano Del Monaco, from Century 21, said it was no surprise that people were heading southeast, saying: “A lot of people are moving this way for a sea change. There’s quick access to the city, which they didn’t have before EastLink was completed in 2008.”
Real estate in the northern suburbs also saw impressive growth of more than 20 per cent. Inner-city Melbourne enjoyed a smaller surge of 5-10 per cent.
The median metropolitan house price has risen an impressive 121 per cent in the last decade; rural property prices had increased 131 per cent.
Bass Coast Shire had the largest growth in the state: 196 per cent since 2000.