Another week of gloom and doom on world stock markets! More media “experts” saying there will be a rate rise in February. Our new Prime Minister is promising an $18 billion dollar surplus in his first budget and more economic responsibility. But we are still at a 4.5% unemployment rate: what does all this mean for the housing market this year? Anybody telling you they know what is going to happen in the market this year will preface the comment with “this could happen”.
Plenty of Mums and Dads have a great deal more equity in their homes now than they had last year. Also, the expected tax cuts and the fact that most people that want a job can find one at the moment, means there will still be investors in the property market. More so if the stock market doesn’t rebound. I think the property market this year will remain fairly similar to last year. The 20-30% gains maybe be tempered back to 10-15%, but the demand will again be strong and if supply doesn’t increase, auction clearance rates will again be high and this means increased levels of negotiations will be necessary and accurate assessment of the properties worth will be paramount.
With the Australia Day weekend upon us and kids back to school next week, things will again be quiet on the new property listings but as of next week we should see a huge rise in the numbers of properties. Enjoy your last weekend break before the autumn selling season is upon us.
Ian James
