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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Property remains a sound investment, with almost 50 per cent of properties now worth twice what the owners paid for them.
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According to RP Data’s latest Equity Report, over the five years to June 2011 capital city home values have increased by about 30 per cent, providing a significant wealth boost to most home owners during this period.
The headline result from the equity analysis reveals that only 3.7 per cent of Australian homes are currently valued at a lower amount than the price at which they were purchased.
At the other end of the spectrum, about 45 per cent of Australian homes are worth more than twice what their owners originally purchased them for.
There is some variation between regions, with areas that have recorded a more severe downturn in home values in recent times now recording higher proportions of homes in negative equity.
Northern Queensland and the South Eastern region of Western Australia are showing more than 10 per cent of dwellings to be worth less now than the price at which the home was originally purchased.
RP Data research director Tim Lawless said the findings also point to the fact that the length of tenure has a large impact on equity accumulation.
“As would be expected, homes held for a longer time frame have accumulated more equity than those held for a shorter amount of time,” he said.
“Australia’s residential housing market is worth an estimated $4.56 trillion; more than three-and-a-half times the value of the Australian equities market which has a market capitalisation of $1.3 trillion.”
