Our commentary on issues important to home owners, investors and borrowers
Which way for property prices this year? This is driven in part by housing affordability. But what do we mean by affordability and how do we best measure it? To my mind there are several ways of looking at housing affordability:
House prices versus average incomes
Proportion of household income needed to purchase an average property
Average weekly rent versus average incomes
Each of these methodologies tells a different story.
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Combined dwelling values have re-accelerated across the nation in February, with all mainland capitals soaring in value. It probably comes as no surprise that Perth claimed the top spot by gaining a whopping 1.8% for the month
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q1/2024. It shows that the borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families continue to decline. The more modest decline in the size of average loans being taken confirms that lower income borrowers are being disproportionately impacted by interest rate hikes: the family income required to qualify for the average loan in Australia is now 32% higher than 18 months ago.
The end of the year is fast approaching, with most capitals experiencing a strong recovery on dwelling values from the downturn that culminated at the start of 2023.
The recovery is mainly due to an influx of immigration and constricted supply, which the Government is trying to remedy with its ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by 2029 through HAFF.
In this months report, the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) has finally passed the Senate after the Labor Government struck a deal with the Greens to add another $1bn for public and community housing. The HAFF plans to build 30,000 social and affordable homes in the next five years; though, national spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, Maiy Azize says it won’t solve the existing “shortfall of 640,000 homes”.
In this months news, CoreLogic’s Mapping the Market tool shows rent values rose in over 90% of Australian markets over the last 12 months, with Adelaide and Perth’s suburbs topping the list.
In response, the National Cabinet has introduced new measures to counter the rising housing crisis, including a New Home Bonus, a Housing Support Program and a National Planning Reform Blueprint.
It has also agreed to A Better Deal for Renters, which will streamline renters’ rights across the nation with consistent policies for eviction grounds, rental standards and limits on rent increases.
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q2/2024. It shows that the borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families have stabilised after the sharp decline over the past 2 years. Lower income borrowers continue to be disproportionately impacted by interest rate increases: the family income required to qualify for the average size loan in Australia is 35% higher than 2 years ago.