At the end of last year we saw a flood of first-home buyers rush into the property market. But talk of a housing recovery now seems premature. The number of loans to first home buyers dropped 22 per cent in January, compared with December. That’s according to official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The majority of the fall was in NSW, coinciding with the state government withdrawing stamp duty concessions for first home owners purchasing established housing. We saw a frenzy of activity leading up to the cut-off date, but the January numbers show housing finance in NSW slumped by 6.3 per cent as a result of those concessions coming to an end.
More broadly, the ABS data shows housing finance weakened in January, the number of loans to owner occupiers falling 1.2 per cent from the month before. The value of new home loans fell 2.3 per cent compared with December.
And there’s been great debate over the NSW government’s proposed overhaul of strata laws. Strata title was invented in NSW 50 years ago and is used widely around the world. The Fair Trade Minister Anthony Roberts says the overhaul is needed because the current Act is like a tired rundown block of flats with various amendments just tacked on over the years. There have been submissions for new laws to allow a majority of apartment owners to terminate an ageing building. Currently all owners must agree, meaning one owner could hold out to prevent a sale to a developer at the expense of all the other owners wanting to sell. Other submissions suggested banning smoking and charging higher fees to investor owners who refuse to spend money on repairs because they don’t have to live on the property.
Meanwhile, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland says the unit and townhouse market in that state is showing healthy signs of recovery. The median unit and townhouse price in Brisbane increased 2 per cent to $400,000 over the December quarter. On the Gold Coast it increased 5.3 per cent to $350,000 and was up 2.1 per cent to $245,000 in Toowoomba. The REIQ quarterly market monitor found prices in the fourth quarter of last year rebounded in most areas of south east Queensland.
