Home building continues to deteriorate while major renovations increase. Seasonally adjusted residential building work has fallen by 4.1 per cent, to an annualised level of $45 billion in the June quarter. That's according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. New residential building work fell 5.3 per cent in the quarter, a 2 per cent decline in detached housing and an 11 per cent drop in other dwellings.
Taking a closer look at South Australia, and the top ten most discounted properties in Adelaide have been heavily reduced, in some cases by almost 30 per cent. According to SQM Research the number one discounted property is 22 Fenton Avenue, Christies Beach, listed for sale for eighteen months. The discount rates of 24 – 29 per cent are on par with other states, except Queensland, with even larger price cuts. Adelaide's stock on the market rose by 5.3 per cent during the month of September and just under 27 per cent year on year. Total amount of stock on the market is currently at more than 16,000 properties. If listings continue to increase we can expect a downward pressure on house prices.
And former Macquarie Bank director and Moss Capital chairman Bill Moss says the global financial crisis will scar younger Australians who will never be able to afford to buy their own home. Mr Moss said people under thirty might never accumulate enough wealth, while others who bought property in their early twenties during the boom are living with negative equity. He says that without being able to borrow 90 per cent of the house's value an asset is only worth as much as someone can save over a lifetime.
But it's not all bad news, Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report 2011 reveals that middle Australia is better off than their counterparts anywhere else in the world with more than one million millionaires here. And real estate is the main asset for Aussies, with 65 per cent of wealth tied up in property. The average wealth level down under rose to almost $400,000 per adult this year. That makes us the second richest behind the Swiss.
