Demand-for-more-homes
DEMAND FOR MORE HOMES
As Australia experiences a population growth,
more and more stress is put on housing across
the nation
It looks like the housing supply situation is likely to worsen based on these most recent
figures. Housing commencement figures were released from the Australian Bureau of
Statistics this week showing the number of homes that started construction over the June
quarter fell by a seasonally adjusted 7 percent, the fourth consecutive quarterly fall.
According to the REIA, vacancy rates remain at historic lows across the capital cities –
a situation that is not likely to improve until more homes start to come on line. The
decline in housing commencements comes at a time when Australia is experiencing
peak population growth which creates demand for more homes.
The decline was mainly due to a dramatic decline in the number of units that started
construction which was down 23 percent over the quarter, a reminder of the stress
being felt within the residential development sector. Houses are taking a shorter
period of time to sell, with the average Australian house taking about 40 days to
sell compared with 53 days to sell at the same time last year.
The average market discount for homes across the nation is now 5.4% compared with
6.9% last year. That means for a house listed at $400,000 it will on average, finally
sell for $21,600 less than the asking price compared with $27,600 less at the same
time last year. The level of vendor discounting and time it takes to sell a property has
improved significantly compared with last year.
Locally there is still a great undersupply of homes for sale. Anything new to the market is
seeing buyers snap them up very quickly. The idea of negotiating on asking price is
becoming harder and harder for many buyers. The rental market is still in hard times
with vacancy rates of zero. Mant tenants are finding hard to secure properties as the
ones they currently occupy are being sold by many landlords at this time.
