Autumn has arrived, and across Australia, property market activity is picking up after a relatively quiet summer period. It’s looking like we can expect an even busier autumn property season than last year in most cities.
In the first week of March, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its monthly meeting and elected to keep the cash rate on hold at the record low level of 2.25%. After the RBA dropped rates by 25 basis points last month, many market analysts were predicting another cut in March. However, as this did not eventuate, they are now predicting another fall in rates sometime between now and June.
These are positive influences for those in the market to purchase a property, as low interest rates are providing some very competitive home loan deals from our lenders. As a result, many new buyers and sellers are starting to enter the market and auction numbers are beginning to increase in all cities except for the smaller city centres such as Hobart and Darwin, where we can expect a later start to the season.
For the week ending March 1, 2015 Melbourne held the highest number of auctions, with 1,408 properties going under the hammer and achieving a very high clearance rate of 77.1%. Sydney held 1055 auctions with a clearance rate of 81.4%, Brisbane 167 auctions with a clearance rate of 47.9% and Adelaide held 86 auctions, with a clearance rate of 76.7%.
In most major capital cities, the low interest rate environment is creating high demand amongst home buyers and investors alike, and this is having a positive influence on home values.
Compared to this time last year, home values are up across the board in all capital cities. Sydney is showing a 13.74% increase year on year, Melbourne 7.37%, Brisbane (including the Gold Coast) 6.05%, Adelaide 3.4%, Perth 0.55%, Darwin 1.57%, Canberra 1.83% and Hobart 0.71%.
As expected, for the month of February, there was very little movement in home values compared to the previous month. Sydney showed the largest home value increase, up by 1.4% followed by Canberra up by 1.3%. Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin showed very small increases of less than 1%. Perth showed a decrease of -2.2%, with Brisbane and Hobart also showing almost insignificant decreases.
The biggest news is the very competitive interest rates available to you from our lenders following the RBA rate cut last month.
Across the board, lenders are putting their best foot forward and offering some of the lowest interest rates on record. There are excellent deals available for everyone – first home buyers, investors and even those looking to refinance. As the actual interest rate available to you will depend on your personal circumstances, we can’t publish these outstanding rates here – but please give us a call on 0437 498 800 to find out the very best deal that’s available for you.
