Recovery and consistency are the key themes to emerge in our analysis of markets across Australia for the new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index.
While sales activity remains subdued in some markets across the nation, the stand-out markets are those where many suburbs or towns have maintained a steady level of market activity or those where it is evident that recovery is under way.
The results confirm that we have a multi-speed market in Australia – which means there are many different scenarios playing out across Australia.
There really is no such entity as “the Australian property market” – because it’s normal to have, at any point in time, markets which are rising strongly, others which are rising moderately, markets which are stagnating or marking time, and markets that are falling.
This is certainly the case right now in Australia.
This reality is illustrated vividly by the quarterly editions of The Price Predictor Index, in which we analyse over 2,000 housing markets throughout Australia to determine the patterns with sales activity, which means buyer demand.
We do this because sales volumes are a forward indicator of what will happen with prices.
Rising transaction levels are usually a precursor to property price growth.
Equally, if sales activity is falling, price growth will slow, or stop – or prices may fall.
One of the standout features of many markets in the nation is that there is a shortage of listings of properties for sale and there is a shortage of new homes being built.
This is one reason why sales volumes have remained subdued in some locations – but in the strongest markets there are high numbers of locations which have managed to maintain consistent sales levels.
In addition, there are some locations where sales activity was previously in decline but recently this has turned around – in other words, markets that are recovering.
The leading city markets at present continue to be Perth and Adelaide, but there are signs of emerging recoveries in other cities, most notably in Sydney and Hobart.
There’s also strong evidence of solid market activity in parts of Regional Victoria, Regional NSW and Regional Queensland. But the strongest regional market overall is Regional Western Australia, while Regional South Australia is a steady and consistent market.
All of that, and a lot more, is revealed in the new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index.
Get your copy today!