Australian Dollar Rate Outlook
IT'S the proof we've been waiting for that the housing boom is back - at dinner tables across the country talk is returning to the old conversation chestnut, Australian property prices.
While the global financial crisis made us all armchair investment analysts, now lower interest rates, government bonuses and the first home market boom was again making property the hot topic.
On any given Saturday huge numbers of prospective buyers are flocking to open houses everywhere. Nowhere is the craze more evident than in the median home market, where young families are trying to make the most of the demand from first time buyers to sell and trade up for more space.
But with medium-priced houses in limited supply, real estate circles are rife with rumours of auction punch-ups and inspection queues rivalling nightclubs. Sydney's Michelle Wheeler and Reima Woolhouse have been riding the $700,000 to $1.2 million price bracket explosion for six months.
The pair recently sold two properties and have been renting while they try to find a home with a bit of space. "There are properties we wanted to buy but we didn't make the first open house because they have sold before then or they just didn't tick the right boxes for us," Ms Wheeler said. "We've been starting to feel a bit disheartened. "We've been saying to each other selling the two properties was less stressful than buying."
On Saturday, the pair inspected an original Californian bungalow on Iandra St, Concord West.
Likely to sell for about $900,000 at auction next month, it is on the market for the first time in 45 years and requires significant work. The home had more than 35 groups through, many expressing interest. Paul Pettenon from Raine and Horne Concord said homes such as that had been selling just days after being advertised.
Recently, a two-bedroom Concord property that did make it to auction attracted 36 registered bidders. "It was mayhem, you couldn't control it actually," he said.
"I have been in real estate for 15 years and I have never seen anything like it."
And it is not just the inner-west. Megan Bruton from McGrath Hunters Hill said open houses around Ryde have needed three open house agents to deal with the record numbers of people inspecting homes.
"Previously when we launched a property we would get 20 or 30 groups through if it was really hot," she said. "But now we are getting 60 to 75 which equates to about 120 to 200 people for just a half-hour." Business analyst for LJ Hooker David Maher said low stock and high demand in the second-home buyer's bracket was making a seller's market.
"What everyone has been focusing on is the first-home buyer's market but that is simply not true," he said. According to his figures, homes in the $700,000 to $1.2 million range were selling at auction 80 per cent of the time, up from the beginning of the year when only 40 per cent were selling. "Auction clearance rates haven't been this good in many years," Mr Maher said.
Real Estate Institute of NSW president Steve Martin said many new people were in the market.
"First-home buyers in particular are feeling in control of their own destiny and not in the hands of landlords," he said. "When there is insecurity, buying property becomes a security."
For the full story visit www.news.com.au
Pounds to Australian Dollars = 2.0800
Euros To Australian Dollars = 1.7700
Australian Dollars to US Dollars = 0.7826
Australian Dollars to New Zealand Dollars = 1.2450
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