The real estate market continues to record a strong start to the year with higher than normal levels of property professional activity during January. Comparable Market Analysis activity remains at levels not seen at any time during 2009. This activity is a great lead indicator for future listing activity and we would expect listings to ramp up further during the next month based on this activity.

The RBA shocked seemingly everyone this week with their decision not to raise interest rates following their Board Meeting on Tuesday. Most economists expected that the Bank would lift the cash rate from 3.75% to 4.0% which would have resulted in standard variable mortgage rates averaging about 6.9% (as long as the banks didn’t grab a little extra). Most of the economic news has been very positive of late however the ANZ Bank’s survey of job advertisements across the major newspapers and internet found that job ads fell by 8.1% during January 2010. Business confidence figures released this week also showed weakness with the NAB index recording a fall of 11 points during the month.

Advertised Stock on The Market

Following the lead from the market Activity Index, the amount of new listings coming onto the market nationally are now higher in every state than at the same time last year, the greatest increases have been witnessed in the Northern Territory (29%) and Queensland (28%). The significant volume of new stock speaks for the current levels of confidence in the property market. Perhaps most interesting is that despite the significant increases in new stock, total stock sits below the level witnessed at the same time last year suggesting that homes for sale are being absorbed by the market at quite a rapid pace.

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Latest National Auction Clearance Rates

Auction markets are continuing to see activity levels grow with 306 auctions held during last week The weighted clearance rate across the combined markets was 44 percent, with the largest auction market (Melbourne) recording a poor clearance rate of 39 percent across 74 auctions. .

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Number of properties advertised for rent

New data available this week shows a summary
of the number of properties advertised for rent
throughout the country. Over the last four weeks there has been 34,393 new properties advertised for rent
and 73,014 total properties available for rent. When compared to the previous month, numbers have
jumped dramatically this month. This is likely due
to seasonal factors with many leases coming up for renewal during the start of the new year.

Over the last ten years the Australian property market has recorded an annualised rate of growth just below 10% each year however, the results vary greatly between each city.

Across the capital city residential property market, the last 10 years has seen home values almost double with an annual rate of growth of 9.4%. Today the capital city median dwelling price across the country sits at $451,000 with houses recording a median of $485,000 and units at $400,000. If you bought a home 10 years ago, you were probably looking at a median price of less than $200,000 for either property type.

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Building approvals data for December has just been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics which shows a positive upwards trend in the number of homes approved for construction. On a seasonally adjusted basis dwelling approvals rose 2.2 per cent in December with 14,869 planned dwellings given the green light. This is the second consecutive month of improved approval numbers and the highest monthly result since mid 2004.

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A private syndicate has bought an industrial property in Sandringham, Victoria, from Becton in an off-market deal.

The sale of the 10,224 sqm office and warehouse building, situated on a 1.68 hectare site at 13-19 Wangara Road, Sandringham, generated a yield of approximately 9.6%.

Savills Australia industrial director, Greg Jensz, negotiated the $11.8 million deal, subject to a new ten year lease to Laserlite Australia at a rental of $1.13 million per annum.

Mr Jensz said the success of the off-market campaign reflected the strength of the private market for well located industrial properties with secure lease profiles.

“The recent lift in enquiry for industrial assets suggests we will see a significant rise in transactions in 2010, especially for such well-credentialed properties,” said Mr Jensz.

by Mark Bristow