Sellers’ Market As Australian Property Prices Rise

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Supply is down and demand is up in Australia’s housing market, with properties selling for tens of thousands of dollars above the asking price as buyers battle it out to secure a property. “It’s definitely a sellers’ market,” Real Estate Australia chief economist Nerida Conisbee added. Record-low interest rates as well as our changing savings habits on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic is driving the boom. Australians are recognising that real estate is a solid investment option with many buyers turning to outer-city beachside areas as our lifestyle and work arrangements changed during the pandemic. Buyers are lining up in regional and coastal areas outside of the main capital cities, such as in northern NSW, Geelong, Woollongong and along the Sunshine Coast, while popular Byron Bay continues to thrive in the property market, up a whopping 40 per cent. Regional areas recorded an average 1.6 per cent increase last month, up 7.9 per cent over the past 12 months, while the combined capitals rose 1.7 per cent over the past year, according to CoreLogic’s latest data. The data shows house prices in Victoria’s Grampians, Noosa and the Noosa Hinterland in Queensland, the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia and Maranoa in southwest Queensland jumped at least 13 per cent last year. The Grampians in Victoria recorded the biggest leap in house prices, rising 16.6 per cent in the past 12 months. Capital city prices are still down on pre-COVID levels, but only by about 0.2 per cent, while regional home prices jumped 6.5 per cent. Conisbee added that the smaller capital cities like Adelaide, as well as Canberra and Perth, are all doing well in comparison. Adelaide’s housing market had often been considered an affordable option when compared to more expensive markets in Sydney or Melbourne in the eastern states. By the end of 2020, Adelaide’s average house price reached a record high, peaking at $510,000, while some properties in the capital city are selling around $100,000 above the asking price. RBA Governor Philip Lowe has also pointed out recently that housing prices are on the up despite the pandemic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics highlighted how first home buyers have been a driving force behind the recent rally in prices. The ABS data shows first homebuyer loan commitments jumped 9.3 per cent in December and 56.6 per cent over the past year.