Australia's housing shortage is getting worse. The gap between housing demand and supply increased by more than 28,200 to 186,800 housing units to June 2010. That's according to the government's National Housing Supply Council (NHSC) report. NSW and Queensland reported the largest shortfalls of 73,700 and 61,900 homes respectively. The body predicts the gap could grow to more than 640,000 homes in the next 20 years.
Overseas investors are taking advantage of the shortage, with foreign developers now owning 30 per cent of Australia's apartments according to research from property group CBRE. The majority of developers are from Singapore, including Frasers Property, the company developing Sydney's $2 billion Central Park project in Chippendale. Overseas investors own 13,000 apartments in 37 projects nationwide. 40 per cent of those are under construction, with the rest in the planning or marketing stages.
And first home buyers in NSW have entered the market in a last minute rush to take advantage of the state government's stamp duty concessions that are being done away with at the end of the year. In October there were 3191 first home buyer loans according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That's 17 per cent higher than September and 35 per cent higher than August. The number of first home buyer loans is at its highest level since December 2009.
In other news, there are less Australians defaulting on their mortgage repayments despite the global economic uncertainty. The latest Fitch Ratings report shows mortgage delinquencies decreased by nearly a quarter in September, that's down to 1.42 per cent of loans from a high in March of 1.77 per cent. Fairfield and Liverpool in Sydney's west continue to be the worst performers in the country. Owners in Melbourne's northern suburbs were the most reliable mortgage holders.
And a quick wrap up of the year's most discounted properties thanks to SQM Research. Taking a closer look at three properties in Western Australia, one of the more familiar entries, 4 Flora St, Midland was originally priced at $1.9 million, then discounted by more than a million dollars to $850,000. It was pulled off the market for a few months, before reappearing at a revised asking price of $719,000, $1000 below the price it sold for in December 2007.
1/16 Dewar St, Ledge Point has been a top ten favourite, with an original price of $375,000 the home eventually sold for $240,000 last month, a discount of 36 per cent.
And 1/21 Ocean Drive, Coogee in Perth was discounted by over a million dollars from $2.7 million to $1.6 million. The seller was even willing to trade for other real estate.
