RP Data’s weekly measure of property professional activity, the Market Activity Index, continues to show minimal change in agent pre-listing activity even last week as the spring selling season commenced. For eight weeks the Index has remained steady indicating that the number of properties being prepared for sale is remaining relatively unchanged. Given as yet there has been no increase in pre-listing activity we are anticipating a fairly quiet start to the spring selling season and if the trend continues the whole of spring may be much quieter.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held their monthly board meeting on Tuesday and decided to keep official interest rates on-hold. Despite the stable rates decision, speculation persist that the increased cost in offshore funding will see banks lift interest rates independently of the RBA in the coming months.

Housing finance data was also released this week and it showed the total number of home loans to owner occupiers during July increased by 1.7% for the month. This increase was due to an increase in loans for the purchase of new dwellings (1.5%) and the purchase of existing dwellings (2.0%) however, loans for the construction of new dwellings fell by (0.7%). The total number of owner occupier home loan commitments are down -25.0% over the last year. The total value of investor finance commitments fell from $7.3 billion the previous month to $7.1 billion during July. Investor commitments now account for 34.0% of the total value of all housing loans during July, down from 35.0% in June, indicating that investor activity in the market may be slowing as value growth also slows.

Housing finance data also showed that across all owner occupier finance commitments, first time buyers accounted for just 16.1% of buyers. In terms of the total volume, first home buyer finance commitments are down -53.8% for the year to July 2010.


Advertised Stock on the Market
?xml:namespace>The number of newly advertised residential property listings has increased by 1.6% during last week however, volumes are currently -1.0% below the 12 month average level. In further encouraging news, the total number of advertised listings has continued to fall, down by -0.7% over the last week. Despite the fall, listings remain 2.9% above the 12 month average level importantly total residential advertisements are at their lowest level in 11 weeks.

Latest National Auction Clearance Rates
?xml:namespace>Spring began with almost 1,400 capital city auctions during the week which was down on the almost 1,700 auctions the previous week. The arrival of spring resulted in fairly negligible changes to auction clearance rates, nationally the weighted average increased to 60.0% from 58.8% the previous week. In the two largest auction markets, Melbourne recorded virtually no change in clearance rates from 65.1% the previous week to 65.0% last week. In Sydney clearance rates improved to 61.7% from 60.4% the week prior.

Number of Properties Advertised for Rent
?xml:namespace>The number of newly advertised rental properties increased by 1.1% last week after falling to its lowest level in seven weeks the week previous. The total number of advertised rental listings has remained flat over the last week and is -1.1% lower than it was at the same time last month.

In last week’s Property Pulse we took a look at the best and worst suburbs in terms of rental growth over the last year, this week we take a look at the best and worst performers for units.

RP Data recently reported in our Quarterly Rental Review for June 2010 that across the country’s capital cities, rents for the combined house and unit markets increased by 2.9% over the year. In comparison, house rents have increased by a total of 40.0% over the last five years and unit rents increased by a greater 45.8%. Across the capital cities, unit rents have increased by as much as 7.9% (Canberra) over the last year and at the other end of the spectrum, weekly rents have been flat in Sydney and Perth.

Read the full article...

A fully leased retail property in Canterbury, Victoria, has been sold at auction by agents of Gross Waddell.

The two-storey property at 109 Maling Road, Canterbury, is presently home to a giftware shop.

Gross Waddell agents, Jonathon McCormack and Andrew Waddell, marketed the property, which achieved a final selling price at auction of $1.55 million.

A yield of approximately 4% was generated from the five-year lease with a five-year option at a rate of approximately $61985.

Thirty people are understood to have attended the auction of the property, which is situated within a Business 1 Zone under the Boorondara Planning Scheme.


Stay up-to-date with the latest commercial property news all in one place. Subscribe to the Australian Property Review, powered by RP Data for only $1.90 a week and receive a weekly newsletter that includes Auction Results, Deals of the Week, Retail News, Leasing Deals and an Industry Market Update. Click here to find out more information.

Labour force data released by the Bureau of Statistics yesterday shows the Australian jobs market continues to outperform expectations. The unemployment rate across the country has fallen to just 5.1% in seasonally adjusted terms. The falling jobless rate has sparked debate that there is likely to be more upwards pressure on interest rates as higher employment fuels wages growth, which drives spending and ultimately pushes inflation higher.

Full time jobs creation is now higher than part time jobs creation as the number of new full time jobs continues to trend upwards quite steeply after the negative movements recorded in 2009.  Over the last year there were just over 267,000 new full time jobs created – the highest annual growth figure since the 12 months ending November 2007.  The rise in full time jobs is also starting to ease the level of underemployment – good news for those workers seeking more hours.

Read the full article at blog.rpdata.com...