October a strong month for inner Melbourne: Secret Agent
October has been one of the strongest months the inner Melbourne property market has seen all year, according to Secret Agent’s latest bulletin report.
It may be an indicator for a strong finish to the end of 2016.
"However, it may also just be a short term fluctuation. Only time will tell," the report stated.
Although, house prices this quarter compared to last are down about 2%, this shows a trend reversal and again highlights the importance of not misinterpreting short-term changes as indicators (noise versus signal), the report argues.
Listings are also up for all property types this month, which (coinciding with higher sale prices) again highlights that demand for Melbourne property is still strong.
Townhouses in inner Melbourne continue to hover around a median of $900,000 and remain well above house prices per square metre: $8,118 compared to $6,852 for houses.
However, in terms of value for money, townhouses almost always have a higher house-to-land ratio, making each square metre more valuable.
“A backyard is probably one of the most valuable assets to possess in inner Melbourne at the moment,” the report advised.
Comparing real (inflation adjusted) house and townhouse prices this month to 12 months ago, prices in all inner regions are well above their previous levels.
Last rolling quarter, median apartment prices decreased by 1.7%.
Again, October has pushed the trend in the other direction; this rolling quarter, apartment prices in the inner suburbs have stabilised (unchanged over the past three months).
Listings are up by over 5%, which is a substantial increase in the otherwise rather stable supply of apartments.
Only Collingwood apartments have managed three consecutive rolling quarters of price increases, while South Melbourne, Brunswick East, Parkville and Prahran have all experienced two or more consecutive rolling quarters of price declines.
CBD apartments in October reached their highest sale prices in real terms so far this year, the report noted.