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Distressed Properties Report
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Distressed Property of the Week

10/2 The Cresent Fairfield, 2165 NSW

'Owner must sell', says the advertisement for this 2-bedroom apartment in Fairfield, NSW. The price has been reduced, with the owner now taking offers from $399,500, down from an initial price of $430,000. Fairfield is located 23 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD, well connected by Fairfield Railway Station to Sydney and other suburbs as well as the M5 motorway. 
 
The apartment is currently tenanted at $360 per week with long-term tenants, so it could suit an investor. But caution is warranted, with a vacancy rate of 3.5% in the Fairfield area weighing on rents. Asking rents for 2-bedroom units sit at $320/week and have dropped around 11.1% over the year to 4 May 2021, given an upward trend in vacancies since 2019. 

Asking prices too for 2-bedroom units have fallen 4.6% over the quarter and 1.4% over the year to 4 May, and prices could fall before they rise again. Over 10 years, 2-bedroom unit asking prices have gained just 4.0%.The gross rental yield on two-bedroom units sits at 3.9%. It would pay to do more research on price action in Fairfield and investigate if there is room for a greater discount . You can view sales records for postcode 2165 here including units, and note that some units have sold for under $400,000.

You can monitor this market and others with SQM Research’s free property data. Also consider the SQM Property Explorer product for more in-depth data and property price estimator.

Total Property Listings Rise in April

Asking prices jump in Sydney as Vendor Confidence Builds

Figures released today by SQM Research reveal national residential property listings rose in April 2021 by 2.4% to 262,617 from 256,568 in March 2021, while asking houses prices jumped 6.1% in Sydney as the property market gathers momentum.

The largest monthly rises in property listing were in Canberra, Perth and Sydney, while Hobart listings fell 4.8% as they continue a downward trend, putting pressure on asking house prices. Compared to 12 months ago, listings fell 10.3% across the nation.

Nationally, new listings (Less than 30 days) fell 2.8% over April to 81,643 properties on the market, though they are up 57.5% over the year. Hobart new listings dropped the most, down by 16.0%. Canberra and Sydney went against the trend and posted healthy rises of 10.7% and  4.8%, respectively.

Over the year, new listing rose the most in Darwin, by 177.6%. In a sign that older stock is clearing, property listings over 180 days fell 1.3% over April and they are down 33.4% over the year, with big falls posted recorded in all capital cities.

Property owners have clearly responded to all the talk about a property boom and have aggressively lifted asking house prices over April, particularly in Sydney. We have also seen a strong rise in Sydney’s new property listings for the month, in part driven by having five weekends, but also because property owners are keen to take advantage of the buoyant conditions. Old listings continued to fall and that suggests that sales rates were still quite strong for the month despite the lift in prices and the Easter and school holiday periods causing some people to delay their property search.

With low interest rates expected to prevail for some time yet, a benign end to Job  Keeper and many households flush with cash, we expect to see moderate to strong activity in the housing market over this quarter, which will likely push house prices even higher. We are, however, seeing ongoing oversupply of units in Sydney and Melbourne with falls in asking unit prices over the month, leaving some space open for first home buyers and investors to enter the property market.

Asking Prices

Over the 30 days to 4 May, national asking prices rose by 2.6% for houses and 0.2% for units. Over the year, growth in asking house prices of 11.8% was posted, led by gains in Hobart, though Sydney is catching up. Healthy rises in asking house prices have also been posted in Brisbane and Adelaide. Asking unit prices rose 6.1%, pushed up by rises in the smaller capital cities and regional locations. Capital city asking house prices rose 5.2% over the year to 4 May, while unit asking prices are down by 1.8%, reflecting falls in asking prices for Sydney units of 5.1%, as oversupply swamps the market.

Auction Results

for week ending 2 May 2021

Full individual auction results can be found on our website:

Auction Listings

for week ending 9 May 2021

CITY Saturday   Rest of Week STATE Saturday   Rest of Week   Link
Sydney 1037   221 All NSW 1198   305   Auctions in NSW
Melbourne 1353   80 All VIC 1474   100   Auctions in VIC
Brisbane 155   50 All QLD 241   124   Auctions in QLD
Perth 15   7 All WA 15   9   Auctions in WA
Adelaide 104   39 All SA 104   43   Auctions in SA
Canberra 68   17 All ACT 68   17   Auctions in ACT
Darwin 1   3 All NT 1   3   Auctions in NT
Hobart 1   0 All TAS 2   0   Auctions in TAS

* The above counts of auctions represent most recent known auction dates for the coming week.

 

Real Estate Realities

Tiny homes address unaffordability 

Australian homes might cost a fortune, but they don’t have to. One Victorian developer is buying caravan parks to transform them into sites filled with tiny homes available for low income households to rent.

Lei Feng, director of Preer Property Group, says Australian governments are not addressing the housing affordability crisis and he believes tiny homes would offer a “desperately needed solution”. There are six caravan parks in the developer’s portfolio. The homes are being offered for rent for between $200 and $230/week and could suit people on Centrelink, who are disabled, retirees, single mothers or victims of domestic violence, Feng says. A trip to the US where millions of Americans live in long-term housing in trailer parks gave him the idea to build small homes.

The custom homes, which generally come in at around 42sqm, often use large windows to make the space feel bigger, big external decking and colour metal bond to make the houses stand out. “Basically, the tiny homes are nothing more than a condensed version of a functional home. The space might be small or tiny but there’s a sense of style, steel preserve, quality of fixtures … it still has a small dining section, open plan kitchen, 2-bedrooms and 1 bathroom,” Feng says.

Around the world, tiny or 'micro', homes are becoming more popular. In LA, tiny prefabricated homes made from pallets are being built to combat the city's homelessness crisis. In Tokyo they have long been in demand, but now, in countries as big as the US, they are gaining ground in populated cities where space commands a high price, but also in regional areas where a smaller home simply uses less (and often more affordable) material, and they can cater to lower income households and many more who want low maintenance.

More ...

Black Dragon's Words for the Week

"Patience is a virtue in life, of course, but it's not something we F1 people have too much of."

~ Niki Lauda,  F1 drivers champion 

SQM Research Housing Indexes

 
Week ending
4 May 2021
Asking Price Chg on
prev wk
Rolling month
% chg
12 mth
% chg
Sydney All Houses 1,497.4 17.0  6.1%  8.5% 
All Units 668.5 -1.5  -0.5%  -5.1% 
Melbourne All Houses 1,042.5 9.2  1.6%  0.1% 
All Units 567.8 -1.3  -0.3%  1.0% 
Brisbane All Houses 670.3 -0.8  -0.3%  4.4% 
All Units 385.8 0.4  0.4%  3.4% 
Perth All Houses 667.9 -0.4  -0.1%  1.8% 
All Units 390.0 -0.4  0.1%  4.2% 
Adelaide All Houses 542.8 2.2  0.6%  3.6% 
All Units 328.5 0.8  2.3%  7.0% 
Canberra All Houses 807.2 -14.2  -2.4%  -2.0% 
All Units 477.2 0.5  0.7%  8.9% 
Darwin All Houses 592.3 3.5  0.6%  2.0% 
All Units 387.5 -1.8  1.0%  20.5% 
Hobart All Houses 641.8 -2.8  2.2%  12.7% 
All Units 430.5 12.2  10.8%  22.4% 
National All Houses 671.2 4.4  2.6%  11.8% 
All Units 416.7 -1.2  0.2%  6.1% 
Cap City Average All Houses 1,044.4 4.2  3.7%  5.2% 
All Units 563.5 -1.7  -0.2%  -1.8% 

Next update: 11 May 2021


SQM Research Weekly Rents Index
 
Week ending
4 May 2021
Rent Chg on
prev wk
Rolling month
% chg
12 mth
% chg
Sydney All Houses          663.7  3.3  1.2%  1.7% 
All Units 453.2 -0.2  0.1%  -5.6% 
Melbourne All Houses 508.7 -1.7  -0.6%  -5.0% 
All Units 363.3 -1.3  -0.8%  -11.0% 
Brisbane All Houses 489.1 2.9  0.5%  6.8% 
All Units 386.6 0.4  0.5%  2.8% 
Perth All Houses 519.7 -2.7  1.1%  16.2% 
All Units 392.3 1.7  1.5%  13.9% 
Adelaide All Houses 437.4 0.6  0.3%  7.2% 
All Units 332.7 3.3  1.1%  5.5% 
Canberra All Houses 688.2 9.8  4.5%  9.2% 
All Units 494.4 -2.4  0.2%  5.8% 
Darwin All Houses 594.3 5.7  1.7%  25.9% 
All Units 413.4 4.6  3.3%  15.6% 
Hobart All Houses 471.9 -8.9  -2.7%  9.1% 
All Units 415.3 -0.3  -1.9%  6.6% 
National All Houses 511.0 -2.0  -0.6%  15.9% 
All Units 395.0 0.0 0.0% 7.6% 
Cap City Average All Houses 557.0 1.0  0.4%  3.3% 
All Units 411.0 0.0 0.2%  -3.7% 

Next update: 12 May 2021



 

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