The market in review February 2005 RETURN
Statistically, 2004 provided a set of mixed messages in the property sectors. Melbourne was portrayed as a rather luke warm affair, inner city demand was high yet sale volume was tempered by a media driven impression of an oversupply of new property and the investor trends were disjointed. As suggested previously we saw outer suburbs come off the boil dramatically and “b grade” property values correct. What is lost in the piles of market reporting is that both buyer confidence and values have dramatically increased since the Federal election. We strongly predicted that mid - late 2004 would be reflected as the time to buy before the recovery forced prices up again. Lets have a look at some interesting numbers from the Australian Bureau of statistics: The total value of home loans jumped 5% to $16.2billion for November while Investor Home loans surged by 8.1% to an 11 month high of $5.6billion. Melbourne’s median house price rose 5.2% for the December quarter alone with South Yarra, up 32.5 %, Nth Fitzroy 21.1% and Moonee Ponds 16.1% being the star performers. We have since had record attendances at our property opens in January/February 2005, seeing the highest levels since our records commenced in the early 1990’s. Early 2005 Auction clearances have exceeded 70%. The Reserve Bank of Australia has again ruled to leave interest rates at lower levels. What should this mean? Our opinions of a strengthening market in 2005 this year have certainly been bolstered by the market activity from November to early February. Select Inner city pockets still have room for the expected upswing and present great buying opportunity. Our advice is to defy market conservatism and beat the price increases to the punch, yet importantly, buying only quality.
Statistically, 2004 provided a set of mixed messages in the property sectors. Melbourne was portrayed as a rather luke warm affair, inner city demand was high yet sale volume was tempered by a media driven impression of an oversupply of new property and the investor trends were disjointed. As suggested previously we saw outer suburbs come off the boil dramatically and “b grade” property values correct. What is lost in the piles of market reporting is that both buyer confidence and values have dramatically increased since the Federal election. We strongly predicted that mid - late 2004 would be reflected as the time to buy before the recovery forced prices up again. Lets have a look at some interesting numbers from the Australian Bureau of statistics: The total value of home loans jumped 5% to $16.2billion for November while Investor Home loans surged by 8.1% to an 11 month high of $5.6billion. Melbourne’s median house price rose 5.2% for the December quarter alone with South Yarra, up 32.5 %, Nth Fitzroy 21.1% and Moonee Ponds 16.1% being the star performers. We have since had record attendances at our property opens in January/February 2005, seeing the highest levels since our records commenced in the early 1990’s. Early 2005 Auction clearances have exceeded 70%. The Reserve Bank of Australia has again ruled to leave interest rates at lower levels. What should this mean? Our opinions of a strengthening market in 2005 this year have certainly been bolstered by the market activity from November to early February. Select Inner city pockets still have room for the expected upswing and present great buying opportunity. Our advice is to defy market conservatism and beat the price increases to the punch, yet importantly, buying only quality.