This month, the news is all good for those in the market to purchase a property!
At its October meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia has once again decided to keep the official cash rate on hold at 2.5%. This is the 13th consecutive month where the cash rate has remained at these historically low levels, creating a low interest rate environment and excellent buying conditions for those in the market to purchase property.
Market analysts are predicting that it will be quite some time before we see any rise in interest rates, with most saying that we can expect rates to remain at current levels until mid 2015. This has created a very competitive loan market, with some lenders offering their lowest rates ever on both fixed rate and variable rate mortgage options.
After an unusually busy winter property market, activity remains high during spring
Major sporting events in Melbourne and Sydney had a marked effect on the number of auctions held nationally, however auction clearance rates remained quite high.
For the past five weeks, the national auction clearance rate has remained above 70%, with last weekend’s clearance rate exceeding 72% from a total of 927 auctions. Sydney had 664 auctions with a clearance rate of 78.5%, Melbourne 65 auctions with a 78.5% clearance rate, Adelaide 43 auctions with a 67% clearance rate and Brisbane 114 auctions with a 50% clearance rate.
In more good news for property purchasers, house price growth across the country appears to have cooled slightly in the quarter just ended
In Sydney, our hottest market, price growth last month was just 0.8% and 4.1% for the quarter – still up by 14.3% over the same period last year.
In Melbourne, price growth last month fell by 0.8%, but was still up by 3.7% for the quarter and by 8.1% over the same period last year. The next best performing market was Adelaide showing price growth for September of 0.9%, 3.1% for the quarter and a rise of 5.8% over the same time last year.
The Brisbane market held steady whilst Perth, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra showed slight declines in house price growth last month, with little or no price growth for the quarter – although all capital cities have seen significant growth over the same period last year.
If a property purchase is part of your plans this spring, now is a great time to talk to us about your loan options
With some of the most competitive interest rates on record available to you, it’s also a great time for a home loan health check! Give us a call today on 0437 498 800.
