The housing market is showing signs of stabilising, with capital city prices flat for the first quarter of this year. That result is the strongest since March last year when values increased by 0.7 per cent. The report, by RP Data-Rismark shows capital city home values rose 0.2 per cent in March this year. Tim Lawless, from RP Data says the Sydney housing market has been the primary growth driver, with values up 1.1 per cent there over the quarter. Values were down across many of the other capital cities, with the most significant drop in Adelaide.
For the year, capital city home values are down 4.4 per cent with the biggest falls in Hobart (-7.3 per cent), Brisbane (-6.1 per cent), Adelaide (-5.7 per cent) and Melbourne (-5.4 per cent). Despite the fall in Melbourne, home values there are still up 45.5 per cent since the start of 2007. Canberra is showing the most resilience with values down only -0.3 per cent over the year.
And building approvals have fallen to their lowest levels in almost three years. The number of dwellings approved fell 7.8 per cent in February, seasonally adjusted, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It follows a rise of 1.1 per cent in January.
Dwelling approvals decreased for the month of February in New South Wales (-41.2%) but rose in Queensland (13.0%), South Australia (10.1%), Tasmania (10.0%), Western Australia (5.7%) and Victoria (1.1%).
And finally, Michael Quinn the managing director of Stockland
(ASX:SGP) says it’s unfair the average family can’t afford the average home. He says the average house is half a million dollars, while the average family can afford $329,000. He cited poor planning, high taxes and the large size of Australian houses as the main reasons for the disparity.
