Sydney’s housing boom is coming to an end, as curbs on investor lending and a raft of new developments combine to depress prices, according to QBE Insurance Group Ltd.
After surging 56 percent in the past four years, the median house price in Australia’s biggest city is forecast to remain broadly flat in the next three years, QBE said in its annual housing outlook released Thursday. Sydney apartment prices are seen falling 6.8 percent by June 2019, as slowing rental and price growth damps investor appetite for property.
The housing boom has been fueled by record-low interest rates, a growing population and a shortage of supply, locking young people out of the market. Banks have tightened lending standards for property investors after regulators pressure to avert a bubble, and some state governments have imposed stamp duty surcharges on overseas buyers.
“Prices are forecast to soften through the three years to 2019, which is likely to be positive for housing affordability,” said Phil White, chief executive officer of QBE Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance. “It’s expected owner-occupiers, including first home buyers, will be stepping in to pick up some of this opportunity in the market.”
The boom is also coming to an end in Melbourne, where the median home price has risen 33 percent in the past four years, the report said. House prices will fall 0.6 percent by June 2019, and apartment prices by 9 percent, QBE said.
In Perth, which has been hardest hit hard by the decline in mining investment, the median house price by 2019 is forecast to be 10 percent below its 2014 peak.
Brisbane home prices are seen bucking the trend, with QBE saying a lack of new supply will push prices up 6.5 percent. Australian fixed-income investors now cite the prospect of a housing market downturn as their biggest concern, replacing the risk of a hard landing in China’s economy, according to a survey released Thursday by Fitch Ratings.
Still, only 4 percent of those surveyed expected prices to fall more than 10 percent by mid-2019, Fitch said. Investors also identified property-market exposure as the greatest risk to bank credit quality over the next year, with mortgages making up almost two-thirds of the big Australian banks’ loan books.
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There’s no sign currently that the boom is ending. House prices in Sydney are up 14 percent this year through September, compared with 9 percent across the nation’s major cities, according to CoreLogic Inc., amid a lack of houses for sale in and around the city.
Fewer investors are entering the market after banks tightened lending to landlords, the QBE report said. Investors accounted for 44 percent of residential loans in the 12 months ended June 2016, down from 51 percent the previous year, QBE said.
Separate data released Wednesday suggested investor interest isn’t waning yet. Investor lending has rebounded 10 percent since April, having slumped 18.5 percent over the previous 12 months, CoreLogic said.
So the "experts" predict a 10% fall from the peak, something like $60k total. They have already fallen something like $50k, which reinforces the point that the bulk of the falls are behind us. If they fall that last $10k over the next 2 and a bit years that is less than $100 a week.
The heavy lifting in the falls is done. The median is down something like $500 a week from the peak, made perfect sense to stay out of the market between mid 2014 and recently if you were a first time entrant. Save and wait as a youngster (under 30) stockpile, maybe get into a better suburb than you would have otherwise for the same money.
If you want to buy a house in Perth and are paying more than $100 a week in rent though, the time to buy is upon you.
Or wait. Nothing bad ever came from waiting for a crash did it? I mean if the crash doesn't come and all that it doesn't help, and if you are happy to be renting in your 50's speculating on a price crash while speculating on currency plays then it can be shit, but just wait. And wait.
Right?
Just rent. Nobody ever made money investing in property. Never.
My only hope for my three boys is that they turn out nothing at all like Chris.
What a joke. Perth already had a 10% fall from peak, and most people are still in a "negation' phase. In 2019 when sh*# hits the fan, the fall will be more likely a 30 to 40% from peak.
Remember that banks are still feasting on credit, and they are still giving away half million cheques to any idiot as the property market on the east coast is still alive. Eventually the credit crunch will be inevitable, and that will be the end of the Perth property market as we know it. After so much financial damage people will simply lose interests in properties, including first home buyers, while property investors will be listed as endangered animals.
So the "experts" predict a 10% fall from the peak, something like $60k total. They have already fallen something like $50k, which reinforces the point that the bulk of the falls are behind us. If they fall that last $10k over the next 2 and a bit years that is less than $100 a week.
The heavy lifting in the falls is done. The median is down something like $500 a week from the peak, made perfect sense to stay out of the market between mid 2014 and recently if you were a first time entrant. Save and wait as a youngster (under 30) stockpile, maybe get into a better suburb than you would have otherwise for the same money.
If you want to buy a house in Perth and are paying more than $100 a week in rent though, the time to buy is upon you.
Or wait. Nothing bad ever came from waiting for a crash did it? I mean if the crash doesn't come and all that it doesn't help, and if you are happy to be renting in your 50's speculating on a price crash while speculating on currency plays then it can be shit, but just wait. And wait.
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