Sydney market surges for November
The housing rebound is spreading as national housing values mark five months of consistent growth, taking the CoreLogic national index back into positive annual growth territory for the first time since April 2018. Sydney and Melbourne continued to drive the rapid recovery, with values up by 2.7% and 2.2% respectively over the month.
CoreLogic attributes the strong gains to a variety of factors: the rate cuts from the Reserve Bank, a loosening in loan serviceability policy and the removal of uncertainty around taxation reform following the federal election outcome.
Advertised stock levels are persistently low, creating a sense of urgency in the market now that buyer demand is picking up along with the prospect that interest rates could fall further in the coming months.
Rocky Recovery for Building Approvals
Building approvals nationwide fell by 3.7 per cent in the 3 months to October 2019 after several months of positive growth.
In NSW building approvals for the same period declined -16.4 per cent. Both houses and units declined by 3.4 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. Approvals are now 19.7 per cent lower than the same time last year.
A bumper crop of auctions
More than 3000 capital city homes nationwide were taken to auction this week according to the results released by CoreLogic, making it the busiest week for auctions for 2019 and in fact the largest number since March last year.
There were 1,131 auctions held in Sydney last week, preliminary results show an 84.7% clearance rate up from 76% across 940 auctions last week. Over the same week last year 937 Sydney homes were taken to auction across the city returning a clearance rate of 41.6%.
A number of homes are expected to go under the hammer this week in Sydney - just under 1,000 homes will be auctioned this week, up on the 937 last year.
Hot topics
New tools launched for first home loan deposit scheme
First home buyers interested in the Australian Government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme have a new tool to help test their eligibility. The new interactive questionnaire, launched by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), guides applicants through the key eligibility criteria.
It complements the property price lookup tool, also developed by NHFIC, to assist first home buyers determine the property price threshold that applies under the Scheme in relation to properties in every suburb around the country. Applications for the Scheme will open on 1 January 2020.
Having a unique street name could make your house more valuable to buyers
In a recent study, academics from Deakin University, National University Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that Sydneysiders have a preference for longer, one-word street names,
Home buyers wanted unique street names, the research found, with houses in those streets reporting statistically higher sales prices – by 1.4 per cent.
The study showed that royal names, words related to popular celebrities or on-trend terms may be preferred in street names, with buyers attaching a premium for houses on those streets.
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