Tasmania property prices slide further south amid sales volume slowdown

House prices across most of Tasmania continue to fall, according to a report by the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania.

The June quarter property report found median house prices in Tasmania dropped 3.3% to $290,000 for the quarter in an environment where sales volumes dropped 6.5% to 1170 sales.

The North-West Centres region was the hardest hit with prices dropping 7% to $236,250 over the quarter. Sales numbers there rose 2.9% to 106 over the quarter.

Transaction numbers are significantly down in Hobart dropping 16% overall to 377. Numbers in outer Hobart dropped 25.5% to 82, middle Hobart dropped 22.5% to 162 while numbers in inner Hobart rose 2.3% to 133 over the quarter.

Median house prices in Hobart grew 4.8% to $370,000 over the quarter, with inner Hobart dropping 5.6% over the quarter to $435,000, outer Hobart dropping 0.7% to $335,000 and middle Hobart growing 4.7% to $335,000.

Launceston median house prices dropped 1.2% to $262,750 while sales volumes increased 4.3% to 220.

While Tasmanian house prices are down for the quarter, the median price for other dwellings grew 3.1% to $240,000 over the quarter, while sales dropped 6.1% to 201.

The median prices for other dwellings in Middle Hobart grew 6.7% to $240,000, the largest increase across Tasmania, though sales numbers were down 35.4% to 42.

For inner Hobart, other dwellings are selling like Tasmanian hotcakes with numbers up 33.3% to 40. Prices rose 0.5% to $327,500 over the quarter.

In the North West Centres region, sales numbers for other dwellings have rocketed 111.1% to 19, though prices dropped 2.8% to $210,000.

According to the report, median house prices in the town of Strahan, on the West coast, increased 225% over the quarter though this should be taken with a bucket of salt as there was only one sale.

Similar scepticism should be applied to King Island where one sale led to the median house price dropping 69.5%.

Median house prices in Riverside, in the north east, dropped 32.1%. There were 18 sales over the quarter.

REIT president Adrian Kelly says while house sales have decreased, median house prices in 10 municipalities increased over the quarter.

“There are also currently six municipalities across Tasmania recording a median house price higher than that of the state median, those being Clarence, Hobart, Kingborough, Latrobe and the Meander Valley,” Kelly says.

“The top five most expensive suburbs were Tolmans Hill, Tranmere, Taroona, Acton Park and Sandy Bay, while the top five most affordable suburbs were Queenstown, George Town, Ravenswood, New Norfolk and Smithton.

“The top five Tasmanian suburbs with the highest turnover of house sales were Sandy Bay, Devonport, Newstead, Kingston and Howrah.”

First time buyers accounted for 15% of house sales for the quarter, while interstate buyers made up 14%.

“The average time it took to sell a house fell by two days for the June quarter, closing the median at 77 days for Tasmania.”