How COVID19 has impacted your suburb:
The global pandemic has led to significant shifts in the Australian Housing Market over the past two years. From the temporary shutdown of cities, to an unprecedented monetary policy strategy, a newfound popularity of regional and low-density housing preferences and the establishment of many government home buying incentives. COVID has had distinct effects on the composition of buyers and the dynamics of the market. See below the six major impacts on the Australian housing market two years on…
Australian home values rose 25%, to record highs
Despite an initial fall, housing rose 24.6% between the end of March 2020 and February 2022. See the link below for a graph demonstrating the cumulative change since the onset of COVID.
First homebuyer activity spiked
First homebuyers were a sizeable part of housing demand at the start of the pandemic. They took advantage of more affordable housing options following the initial decline, along with record low mortgage rates and government incentives. See the link below for a graph showing the number of First Home Buyer spikes.
Rents rose 11.8% to record highs, while gross yields fell to record lows
There are many reasons why rents have risen; investor activity had been relatively quiet between 2017 and mid 2020 contributing to rental supply constraints. Over the course of 2021 the annual rent value growth was at its highest levels since 2008. See the link below for a graph on the cumulative change in the rental market.
Housing debt levels hit record highs
With The Reserve Bank of Australia setting the official cash rate target at 0.1% since November 2020, lower debt costs enabled borrowers to access more credit. As of January, the total outstanding housing credits sat at a record high of over $2 trillion, while the ratio of housing debt to household income was at a record high of 140.5% through the third quarter of 2021. This is up from 139.2% in March 2020. See the link below for a graph from the RBA.
The premium of house prices compared to units hit record highs
Both the composition of the buyer pool and the impacts of COVID may have contributed to the record gap between house and unit values. Investors, who may have a preference for units, have been a relatively small part of demand through the upswing. Government policies such as the HomeBuilder grant may have also contributed to increased detached housing demand, due to tight construction timelines to qualify. See the link below for a graph with the statistics on the premium prices
The rise of the regions
Migration trends over 2020 and 2021 revealed an uptick in the volume of people leaving cities for regions outside of lockdown periods, and a decline in people leaving regions for cities. See the link below for the graph showing statistics on cities vs regions.
To read further into the CoreLogic six points please see the link below:
CoreLogic Article
PerryCooper Property / Real Estate Agency Buderim / 0438 162 520