Ray White Local Market Report

What’s happening in your market? There have been some attention grabbing headlines of late about housing market slowdowns. After nearly six years of either spectacular or scary gains - depending on whether you own a home - capital city real estate has peaked. The trend is far from universal though: high-end property has been hit harder, while less expensive homes continue to advance. As Melbourne and Sydney slacken, regional values are not only holding up, they’re gaining. In many areas units are now outperforming houses, despite the huge surge in supply in the big cities. Clearly, there is still strong demand for the most affordable housing. One of the biggest impacts for those looking to buy is tighter home loan restrictions implemented by the banking regulator, APRA, meaning access to finance is more constrained as banks exhibit greater caution. Mortgage rates meanwhile are refusing to budge from their record held stretch, and even seasoned economists seem to be hedging their bets on when that might change. It makes sense that any spare cash you might have is used to pay down debt whilst the going is good! Of course, a Federal election is on the cards some time next year, and changes to negative gearing have been flagged by the ALP. It may be a closely fought election, with these proposed changes sure to be front and centre of the debate. If you would like specific information about your property in the current market, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. Rocky Glanville Property & Marketing Consultant Ray White Holland Park