Tasmania, Australia’s least expensive property market, has become even cheaper.
Its median house price fell 1.6% in the past year to $305,000, according to the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania. It was $330,000 in the March quarter.
At the same time the volume of house sales in Tasmania slumped 10.2% to turnover levels that haven’t been seen since the early 1990s.
Sales volume in Hobart was down by 5.6%, Launceston volumes by 5.2% and sales in the state’s northwest fell 13.4%.
The turnover data continues a trend evident in the 2010 June quarter, which reported a 20.8% reduction in house sales across Tasmania compared with the 2009 quarter volumes.
Sandy Bay was the most expensive suburb in the June quarter, with a $647,500 median, followed by Battery Point at $645,500. Sandy Bay’s median price in the 2010 was $655,000 and $599,000 in 2009.
Four other suburbs on the 10 most expensive suburbs in the state have recorded strong gains over the past two years, including Seven Mile Beach, up from $398,000 in the 2009 June quarter to $475,000; West Hobart up from $427,500 to $495,000; Sandford up from $426,000 to $497,500 and Mount Nelson up from $417,500 in 2009 to $615,000.
But two of the cheapest suburbs on the 10 cheapest locations recorded significant declines in median prices, with Ravenswood down from $190,000 in June 2009 to $142,500 and Gagebrook down from $160,250 to $150,000.
REIT president Adrian Kelly recently noted that with many overpriced properties on the market that “anyone currently selling a house in Tasmania needs to be willing to meet market prices or be ready for their house to sit on the market for up to a year or more".
PROPERTY listings have increased in the state's blue collar suburbs due to job insecurity and the state of the Tasmanian economy, real estate agents say.
Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Adrian Kelly said concern over job losses meant people were reticent to buy.
He said job losses in some regions had meant families needed to relocate, hoping to both find work and sell their home.
Aqua Real Estate director Daron Gumley said property listings in George Town had risen along with concerns over continued operations at Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter and BHP Billiton's Temco magnesium plant at Bell Bay.
``Take into consideration BHP and Rio Tinto, the relocation of the major port movements from Bell Bay - this on top of rising costs for investors being land tax and also the rise in water and sewerage costs,'' Mr Gumley said.
He said there had been an increase in listings from investors wanting to offload stock that they believed had reached their capital growth potential.
``We have seen a drop in price over the last 12 months from the asking price of around 10 to 15 per cent.
Houses for sale in Tasmania under $100k are in the hundreds of listings.
Saw one a few weeks ago which was a 150 year old sand stone house on an acre 30 minutes from Hobart with 5 bedrooms for $60k - of course - partly renovated.
TASMANIA'S first home owner grant should be doubled to $14,000 to boost the state's sluggish economy, real-estate advocates say.
Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Adrian Kelly says upping the grant even if only for 60 days would have a huge impact on boosting the ailing real-estate industry and the wider economy.
The incentive would help first-home buyers enter the real-estate market, create work within the building industry, and have a flow-on effect for small businesses right across the state.
It would also offer much-needed relief within the overcrowded rental market, as people moved out of rental accommodation and into their own homes.
Mr Kelly said there were plenty of prospective young buyers and an extra $7000 would be just the incentive they needed.
He said the extra funds would help buyers secure an existing house at the state's median price of $350,000 or build with a house and land package.
Meanwhile, buyers looking at properties under $200,000 perhaps in Hobart's northern suburbs could use $14,000 to make a sizeable dent in their new mortgage.
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