Australia’s disparate housing market growth to continue in 2015: HIA

Australia’s disparate housing market growth to continue in 2015: HIA
Jennifer DukeDecember 7, 2020

Nationwide growth in 2014 has been under scrutiny, however outside of Melbourne, Sydney and, to a lesser extent, Brisbane, growth has been subdued, according to the Housing Industry Association’s Residential Construction – Looking Towards 2015 report.

Noting that the focus on dwelling price growth this past year as “included stoking fears of a housing bubble and inaccurately labelling negative gearing as the policy of evil” the report indicates that there have been enormous and widely disparate growth outcomes across geographic areas that will likely persist into next year.

While capital city dwelling values, when calculated together, increased by 8.5% in the 12 months to November 2014, it was Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane recording the uptick at 13.2%, 8.3% and 6.0% annual growth respectively.

“The situation was far more subdued, if not weak, in the remaining capitals, with annual growth in dwelling values ranging from 5.2% in Hobart to less than 2% in Perth, Darwin and Canberra,” the report explains.

When adjusting for inflation, the outcome is largely flat to negative. Regional Australia as a whole has also not seen any substantial value growth.

Already, a peak in April 2014 has been noted, and: “Against a backdrop of falling real household income, the rate of growth in home values is projected to trend down throughout 2015, although the trajectory would be influenced by any further reductions to borrowing costs.”

Jennifer Duke

Jennifer Duke was a property writer at Property Observer

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