"The more they scream about the coming Armageddon, the more i am reassured that the real estate market will gore these day-trader-wannabees in the real estate market"
Is this what he means by gored? Look what just happened to the worlds hottest housing market.
House prices fall, but experts disagree on numbers
By Aileen Keenan
Property Editor
May 27, 2004
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Going down
Further signs of a slump in the residential property market have emerged, with a major research company reporting that Melbourne house and unit prices tumbled in the March quarter.
Yet there is wide disagreement on the extent of the fall.
According to Sydney-based Australian Property Monitors, Melbourne had the worst performing property market of all capital cities between January and March this year.
APM reported yesterday that Melbourne's median house price fell 12.9 per cent, with Sydney the next worst performer, dropping 7.5 per cent.
But figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria paint a far less dramatic picture. The REIV says Melbourne's median house price fell just 0.8 per cent in the March quarter.
Institute chief executive Enzo Raimondo said its data was provided by its member agents, and represented about 60 per cent of market activity.
Louie Christopher, research director at APM, said the company's data included both auction results and information from the Victorian Valuer-General, representing about 55 per cent of sales.
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According to APM, Melbourne's median house price dropped from $310,000 to $270,000 in the March quarter, while Sydney's eased from $497,500 to $460,000.
Median prices in Melbourne's suburban apartment market fell 8.7 per cent in the March quarter from $276,000 to $252,000 - also the sharpest fall of any city - resulting in a yearly decline of 2.3 per cent, said APM.
But Melbourne's inner-city unit market was hardest hit, recording a decline of 8.8 per cent in the year to March 31, according to APM. Over the same 12 months, Melbourne's median house price had risen 3.2 per cent, while Sydney's had gone up 13.6 per cent.
Despite indications that prices have peaked, Australia's home building boom refuses to die. Figures released yesterday show home construction edged up to set a new record in the March quarter. The Bureau of Statistics estimates that home building activity rose 0.1 per cent in the quarter, surprising many who expected a decline.
The figures showed a 0.7 per cent fall in Victorian home building, according to Housing Industry Association economist Harley Dale.
But in a further sign of more money being poured into housing, the Reserve Bank reported that investors increased their housing debts by $4 billion in the March quarter, an annualised growth rate of 11 per cent.
- with Tim Colebatch
theage.com.au |
