Australian Property News

More signs of a housing market recovery

Posted on Friday, February 01 2013 at 3:04 PM

Did you invest in property last year? You might’ve jumped in at just the right time, with new data released today showing home prices across Australia rose by 1.8 per cent across 2012.

In further signs of a looming recovery, capital city dwelling values rose by 1.2 per cent in January, largely thanks to gains in the Sydney, Perth and Brisbane markets.

RP Data reports that every capital city recorded an increase in dwelling values over the past 12 months, with the exception of Melbourne, which was down 0.4 per cent.

The firm’s research director Tim Lawless says the housing market has started the year on a strong foot.

“These strong January results are likely to have seen some upwards seasonal bias, however the housing market has been on a clear recovery trend since June last year,” Lawless says.

“The latest housing market data adds weight to the argument that interest rates may be at the bottom of the cycle. The Reserve Bank will be watching the performance of the housing market closely and the positive trend in housing values will dampen calls for further interest rate cuts.”

Additional data is also pointing towards an improvement in the Australia housing market. The average number of days it takes to sell a property was steadily decreasing prior to the seasonal slowdown in December and January and the rate of vendor discounting was also on a clear trend of improvement.

“The typical capital city house took 50 days to sell in December last year, a vast improvement from the recent high of 76 days recorded in February last year.”

Additionally, vendors are now discounting their initial asking prices by an average of 6.6 per cent compared with 7.3 per cent a year ago.

“With stock levels (still) high, it’s likely to remain a buyers’ market for some time, however I think we’re now seeing some balance return to the negotiation table. Buyers are losing some of their negotiation power and homes are selling faster.”