Australia’s richest suburbs have been revealed with Sydney dominating in the top ten. RP Data reports eight of the top ten spots and 19 of the top 25 spots were stolen by Sydney suburbs. Sydney’s Point Piper took the prize with its property fetching an average $7.4 million followed by Watsons Bay, Centennial Park and Woolwich. Perth’s Peppermint Grove made the fifth spot with an average price of $4.3 million. Eagle Bay, also in Western Australia, came in tenth.
Industry Figures Home loans rose more than expected in August following rate cuts in May and June. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported home buyers increased home loans by 1.8 per cent in August after a fall of 0.7 per cent in July.
Rental prices have skyrocketed in Sydney and Perth, which may be bad news for tenants but has investors paying attention. According to Australian Property Monitors median weekly rents for Australian homes rose 1.6 per cent for homes and 0.2 per cent for units. APM’s senior economist Andrew Wilson says, “There is a shortage of properties for rent, higher populations and a lot of competition putting upward pressure on rentals over the medium term.”
Residential Property The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) interest rate movements have attracted a lot of talk amid speculation the RBA could be preparing to cut rates again next month after lowering the key cash rate by 25 basis points at its October meeting.
ANZ Banking Group
(ASX:ANZ) has become the last of the Big Four Banks to lower its mortgage rates: ANZ moved in line with Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) and National Australia Bank Limited
(ASX:NAB) reducing its standard variable home loan rateby 20 basis points, while Westpac Banking Corporation
(ASX:WBC) cut its rates by 18 basis points.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
(ASX:CBA) has cut interest rates on its fixed rate home loans to a 22 year low with rates on new fixed-rate home loans for one to five years now sitting between 5.39 per cent to 5.69 per cent.
Interview FNN spoke to CommSec Chief Economist, Craig James who says the property market will compete with the shares market next year. Mr James also claims we’re at the early stages of a significant housing pick up. Click to watch full interview here. Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond has also shared a positive outlook the property market. Speaking to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Brisbane Mr Symond said last week Australia’s strong fundamentals will support its property market as well as strong demand from Asian investors looking to buy Australian property.
Auction Results Last week’s auction results from around the country: Australian Property Monitors has reported Sydney recorded a 64 per cent clearance rate from 251 properties for auction, Melbourne recorded a 58 per cent clearance rate from 257 properties, Brisbane posted a 39 per cent clearance rate from 28 properties listed and Adelaide reported a 36 per cent clearance rate from 38 reported auctions.
Commercial Property Wesfarmers Limited
(ASX:WES) has reportedly launched a property portfolio review worth about $700 million. According to media reports the conglomerate has asked investment banks Goldman Sachs and RBS to review the property strategy for it supermarket division, Coles Group. The report comes after rival supermarket chain Woolworths Limited
(ASX:WOW) revealed plans to float $1.4 billion worth of properties under the name Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group.
Onthehouse Holdings Limited
(ASX:OTH) has inked a deal to buy Ad Network Pty Ltd by the end of this month. The real estate content provider says the acquisition will establish it as one of Australia’s largest real estate media companies with an online audience estimated at more than 4 million per month. Onthehouse supplies and manages real estate software, websites and online marketing for Australian real estate agencies and groups and says it counts roughly half of every real estate agency in Australia as a client.
