Weekly Property News 32nd Edition 2021

“Virtually Possible”

Hi Guys, it’s Dean O’Brien from OBrien Real Estate with the 32nd edition of the Property News for 2021 where real estate information is on the house.

As we do at the start of each month, we report on the data Corelogic just released for the last winter month of 2021. Apart from homes already inspected prior to August 6 lockdown day, every home sold has been done via online or through a virtual inspection. Despite the limitations, the market moved north in Victoria by an overall 1.2% for the month. Outside of Victoria, the two best performing states were Hobart and Canberra with aggregate growth over 30 and 26% respectively for the last 12 months.

Vic Metro Median House Price growth slowed marginally over August, but still added 1.4% growth to prices which brings the median price for houses closer to the million-dollar mark to finish just under $954,500. Units increased modestly by 0.5% to a median of $615,909. The Regional Victoria median house price growth was similar, accelerating by 1.3% in August bringing the median price for houses to $534,809 which represents an annual growth rate of 25%. Unit prices increased fractionally above that with 1.4% growth resulting in a median of $363,679.

Looking at the next graph on rental yields you’ll see that…

Annual changes in rents for units in Melbourne continued its resurgence in rental prices now only being 3.3% under the market from 12 months ago when we were in the middle of Melbourne’s second lockdown. Houses for rent have modestly changed over the last 12 months increasing 3.5% in their rents. Yields for both regional and metro Melbourne remain stable with little change, but still much higher than bank deposits.

The Numbers – Looking at the numbers for last week; OBrien conducted 10 online or virtual auctions over the last
weekend with all 10 selling for a 100% clearance rate. Across Victoria online auction clearance rates were similar with a 95% clearance rate which is up 14% of last week, which shows buyers are becoming more and more comfortable with the online auction platform. We saw 1185 non-auctions sales go unconditional last week which is also a strong result when only virtual inspections were allowed for the last 24 days.

The main new edits this week has been:

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics or the ABS reported wage growth was up 8.1% on a year ago; the biggest increase in 12.5 years.
• The ABS also reported record profits for businesses with profits up 12.6$ on a year ago.
• Continuing with ABS data, credit growth for July was released with data representing the biggest growth in credit in 3 years, however we are likely to see August slow due to many lockdowns across the country.
• Lastly July data around council building approvals for new homes was down 8.6%, this is the fourth consecutive month of declines with Victoria down 11%, however South Australia faired
  worst with a 17.9 % decline.

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That’s all for this week, I’m Dean OBrien, and remember the information provided is of a general nature you should always seek independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice in relation to your unique circumstances.