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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirm that the Australian property market is starting to show signs of life once again.
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Yesterday, the ABS Established House Price Index found that house prices increased by 1.6 per cent over the December 2012 quarter – the strongest quarterly growth in almost three years.
“Nevertheless, this result still leaves the price level around 3 per cent below the peak achieved in mid-2010,” Housing Industry Association economist Geordan Murray said.
“The index indicates home prices increased by 2.1 per cent over the full 2012 calendar year.”
“The results may indicate that home buyer demand improved in the last quarter of 2012. Interest rate cuts in late 2011 and throughout 2012 are an obvious contributor to this, but it could also be an early sign that after a few years of bolstering household balance sheets some would-be home buyers may now feel more comfortable.”
According to Mr Murray, the two cities where new home supply is least responsive to demographic demand are Sydney and Perth.
Supply of new homes in these two cities has been unable to keep pace with demand and the shortfall is manifesting itself in price pressures.
Across the capital cities, in the December 2012 quarter the Established House Price index increased by 2.3 per cent in Sydney, 0.7 per cent in Melbourne, 0.7 per cent in Brisbane, 0.8 per cent in Adelaide, 2.9 per cent in Perth, 2.6 per cent in Darwin and 2.1 per cent in Canberra.
