Spring property selling season off to a strong start
Spring time sees more property settlements and transactions across Australia than any other season, according to leading conveyancing technology experts, GlobalX.
GlobalX CEO Peter Maloney said from September to November the grass is greener, gardens are in full bloom and the weather is comfortably warm, making for optimal house selling conditions.
Maloney said spring sales were often driven by the desire for a new beginning, with individuals, couples and families preferring to move before the end of the year.
“Buyers who have children prefer to get settled ahead of the new school year, and a spring sale means relocation can take place near or over the holiday period, allowing ample time for unpacking,” he said.
“Similarly, investment properties can be renovated in time for the January-February period, which sees many people searching for rental properties before universities and training institutions begin the academic year.”
This year’s spring sales are off to a strong start, with auction clearance rates over the past nine weeks above 75%, according to CoreLogic’s November market report.
“That puts them at their strongest level in more than a year and only marginally under a five-year high,” Maloney said.
Over the past 12 months, combined capital city home values have increased by 7.5% which is trending up from a recent low of 6.1% at the end of July.
Nationally, capital city home values rose by 9.1% over the first 10 months of 2016, with only two cities, Perth and Darwin, recording falling values over the past quarter.
Annually, home value increases have been strongest in Sydney (10.6%), Melbourne (9.1%) and Canberra (7.9%), Hobart (5%), Adelaide (2.5%) and Brisbane (4.1%), while falls were recorded in Perth (down 3.7%) and Darwin (down 3.8%).
“It’s also worth noting that the average level of discount (to a property’s listed or reserve price) on homes has eased from 6.1% a year ago to 5.8%, so home sellers are coming away with more cash from their sales,” Maloney said.
“It is the same for unit owners, with the average discount reducing slightly from 6.1% a year ago to now 5.5%.”
In a market where Australian residential real estate is worth around $6.7 trillion, six out of every 10 new home listings are currently located in capital cities. However, while the nation’s total mortgage debt of $1.59 trillion represents around 23% of the value of residential real estate; just over half the average Australian’s household’s wealth is invested in housing (51.5%).
“To put the nation’s accumulated mortgage debt into context, the total value of Australia’s residential real estate market is more than three times the funds held in the nation’s superannuation accounts, and just under four times the amount held in Australian listed stocks,” Maloney said.
In the past year, more than 451,000 properties changed hands, with the average house price sitting at $600,000 nationally and the average unit price at $510,000.