Australian Property News

House prices on the rise

Posted on Thursday, January 31 2013 at 2:40 PM

The Australian property market had a better year in 2012 than 2011, with prices in most states increasing and achieving their best performance results in the past 18 months.

Weekly rents also grew, especially in the unit market, according to Residex.

“What’s interesting from the sales figures is the fact that the unit market has now become almost as important and significant as the house and land market,” Residex founder John Edwards says.

“Market share of unit sales is now in the order of 44 per cent. In Sydney, unit sales are now almost equal in importance with the difference between volumes only being about 4000 dwellings for the full year.

“For the investor, the year ahead should be one of developing future quality rental streams. This is probably best done by looking for well-suited renovation opportunities.”­

Rents in Darwin increased by 16 per cent for houses over the past 12 months, while rental prices for houses in Perth =also skyrocketed by 17 per cent.

In the unit market, rents have increased in all capital cities except Canberra and Hobart.