 Modest house price rises
Australia's property market has performed well during the first quarter of 2009. The RP Data-Rismark National Dwelling
Value Index rose a promising 1.6 per cent.
During the first three months of 2009, property values in Australian
capital cities rose by 1.5 per cent, and unit
values increased 2 per cent, reflecting the relative affordability of the
latter. Of the mainland capitals, Darwin (+2.8 per cent),
Sydney (+2.4 per cent), Melbourne (+2.4 per cent), Canberra (+1.4 per
cent) and Brisbane (+1.3 per cent) led the charge during this period.
The laggards were Adelaide (-0.3 per cent) and Perth (-0.7 per cent).
2008 experienced modest falls of 3 per cent in house prices, and this is thought to mainly be due to the high interest rates reached by mid-year, some reaching a high of 9.6 per cent.
Therefore, the stabilisation in house price this year is thought to have been driven by
the drastic cuts to interest rates - 40 per cent plus falls to 5.7 per cent, which is
their lowest level since July 1968 - and now over 95 per cent of all new
borrowers are on variable rate loans.
The boost to the first home owners grant has also helped support demand, with many first home buyers now able to buy their first home due to better affordability.
Some of the doom and gloom predictions by a few, that housing values would fall dramatically, Australian property prices have been resilient and performed better than most expected.
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