Latest Australian Property Markets News and Forecasts
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Since the pandemic’s onset a number of years ago, finding a rental property in Australia has become as challenging as snagging a seat at the AFL Grand Final.
Rental availability has plunged by half, and rents in our capital cities have rocketed by a staggering 33% in just two years.
While landlords aren’t complaining that for once their rental income is rising faster than inflation, this scarcity is a headache for tenants who are now grappling with a highly competitive market.
In our regular Property Insider chats Dr. Andrew Wilson and I have talked a lot about the factors that led to these extremely tough conditions including the trend towards living in smaller households, a rebound in population growth, a shortfall in new housing construction, and a slowdown in dwelling completions, not to mention investors cashing in and selling up their properties.
So what’s happening in our rental markets at present?
That’s what I going to ask Dr. Andrew Wilson, chief economist of My Housing Market today.
And I’d also like to get his take on the latest retail figures as well as the auction results for the first busy auction weekend of the year.
Tight rental markets continue into 2024
Watch this week’s Property Insiders video as Dr Andrew Wilson reports that the capital city home rental markets have commenced 2024 with extraordinarily tight results and although vacancy rates have eased marginally over January, they remain at near-record-low levels – and rents continue to surge.
The rental markets have commenced 2024 with more tough results for tenants with generally higher rents and continuing near record-low vacancy rates over January – for both houses and units.
2024 is unlikely to provide any relief for tenants with new home building levels remaining chronically recessed despite government policies designed to reduce surging migration.
December retail sales fall
Watch this week’s Property Insiders video as Dr Andrew Wilson reports that retail sales fell more sharply in December than many commentators expected.
This sharp fall is in part the result of shifting seasonal trends with more of us spending big on Black Friday sales in November.
The ABS noted that:
“This shift in spending from December to November reflects the growing popularity of Black Friday sales and the impact of cost-of-living pressures, with consumers seeking out bargains and taking advantage of discounts in November…[and] retail turnover rose 0.1 per cent in trend terms.
This shows that underlying retail spending remains subdued when we look through the volatile movements over recent months in the lead up to Christmas.”
Despite the fall in December, the level of retail sales is still well above pre-pandemic trends.
Auction clearance results from February 3rd – solid start to begin the 2024 auction season
The opening auction weekend for 2024 has produced generally solid clearance rates for most capitals with listings well above the numbers reported over the same weekend last year.
Auction clearance rates are a good indicator of what’s ahead for our housing markets and clearly there was significant depth in our markets with a remarkable number of properties for sale by auction, but many buyers chasing them.
Sydney had the strongest auction clearance rate of 75.9% which is clearly a rate in favour of sellers.
Auction clearance results for the other capitals were:- Melbourne – 71.9%; Adelaide – 73.3%; Brisbane – 56.4% and Canberra – 52.4%.
The national auction market reported a clearance rate of 66.0% at the weekend which was well above the 58.7% reported over the last auction weekend of 2023 – and also higher than the 62.9% recorded over the same weekend last year.
Capital city weekend auction markets have commenced 2024 with generally positive results which are set to continue over coming weekends with the RBA likely to keep rates on hold over February.
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