Sydney house prices down

[Marc]

Hi all,

News

01.09.05 3.40pm

A sharp drop in Sydney has pushed down Australian state capital city house prices by 0.1 per cent, new figures released today show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said prices in Sydney dropped 3.1 per cent in the quarter, but they rose in every other capital city.

Perth led the charge, with prices there up 3.8 per cent, while they also lifted in Adelaide (1.5 per cent), Darwin (1.4 per cent), Melbourne (1.3 per cent), Brisbane (0.8 per cent), Canberra (0.3 per cent) and Hobart (0.2 per cent).

Over the full year, established home prices dropped 0.1 per cent. This is the first full year fall since the March quarter of 1996.

Again, the figures were heavily affected by Sydney where prices were down five per cent over the past year.

But in Perth, prices were up 11.7 per cent, in Darwin they rose 8.6 per cent, in Adelaide they were up seven per cent, in Canberra they lifted 2.5 per cent and in Brisbane they improved 1.8 per cent.

However, prices dropped 1.4 per cent over the year in Melbourne and 0.8 per cent in Hobart.

- AAP

News Source

Cheers

Marc

[essence]

More reports

Sydney's biggest housing slump
02 September 2005
By JESSICA IRVINE
Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney home prices have suffered their sharpest annual fall on record as the property market continues to slump - and experts are tipping the slide to continue for the next few years.

The price of an average established home in Sydney fell 5 per cent last financial year, the biggest drop since Australia's Bureau of Statistics began keeping records two decades ago.

The results are a far cry from the 20 per cent growth rates during the peak of the property boom, with prices now falling faster than during the recession in the early 1990s.

For Sydney, it is a case of the bigger they come the harder they fall, economists say.

With home prices in the city still about seven times the average annual wage - well above historic ratios of five times typical pay - economists are predicting more falls over the next five years.

Kieran Davies, an analyst with ABN Amro, said: "Given prices are so out of line with wages, it wouldn't be a surprise to see prices remain flat to down for quite a long time - for some five years or longer."

The figures published yesterday also show the state's housing slump has begun to drag down the rest of Australia. The national average home price fell for the first time in almost a decade, by 0.1 per cent last financial year.

But the commodity-fuelled good times continue to roll in Western Australia, Perth home prices continuing to grow at an annual rate of 11.7 per cent.

Sydney's housing downturn represents a threat to the NSW economy, economists say.

An ABN Amro analyst, Felicity Emmett, said the price correction would continue to hamper growth in NSW, which already lags the national average.

Sluggish population growth also continues to limit demand for properties in the state.

NSW attracts a total of just 10,000 migrants from interstate and overseas a year, compared with an extra 50,000 who flock to Queensland, Commonwealth Bank figures, also published yesterday, show.

Recent price falls have already dragged some Sydney suburb median house prices below the $A1 million mark, according to research by the housing analysis firm Residex, including Waverley, Narrabeen, Strathfield and Yowie Bay.

But other "upper socio-economic areas" such as the inner west, lower north shore and north-western suburbs continue to show signs of resilience.

The governor of the Reserve Bank, Ian Macfarlane, warned last month of an affordability crisis for young Sydney homebuyers, adding that a further fall of prices was likely.

The director of Residex, John Edwards, said yesterday that negative commentary was scaring off buyers. "There has been a lot of press about how unaffordable Sydney is, but in actual growth rate terms it's actually been very mild," he said.

"We're not in the middle of a depression - interest rates aren't rising. We should be having a correction."

Separate figures have shown a jump in business investment of 7.3 per cent in the June quarter to $A15.6 billion, driven by a large surge in spending on equipment, plant and machinery.

"The clear message is that corporate Australia is flush with cash and ready to spend," said an economist with CommSec, Craig James.

Figures due next week are expected to show GDP growth struggling to top 2 per cent.

[EricBosloor]

I know this is an old article but the trend, as of right now, is that property prices are still going up. As it is, self storage for furniture and other household items are now very common for young couples to use as they try to look for bigger living spaces. Maybe it might be a good thing to wait as prices might fall really soon and living in Sydney might not be as bad. There are many self storage facilities in Sydney and if you happen to be moving there, you might like to use one of those. It can be real convenient and safe, especially if you are planning to move really soon.