Australia\u2019s housing market has surged to a new record high in February following a widely anticipated interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). After two months of declining prices, this turnaround suggests a shift in buyer sentiment and renewed activity in the property market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PropTrack Home<\/a> Price Index recorded a 0.4% increase in national home values last month, pushing prices 3.94% higher compared to February 2024. This follows minor declines of 0.08% in January and 0.17% in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among capital cities, Melbourne experienced the highest monthly growth, with a 0.67% increase<\/strong>, followed by Sydney, where home values rose 0.50%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite Sydney reaching a record high<\/strong>, its prices have risen just 2.7% over the past year, indicating that affordability constraints and high interest rates have capped further gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hobart was the only capital to record a slight decline (-0.03%), while Perth, which had previously led national growth, saw only a marginal rise of 0.02%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melbourne\u2019s turnaround is particularly notable, as the city\u2019s property market has underperformed in recent years. Factors such as higher property taxes<\/a>, weaker economic conditions, and increased housing supply have contributed to subdued price growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, Victoria has emerged as a first-time buyer<\/a> hub, accounting for one-third of all first-home buyer purchases in Australia, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS<\/a>) loan data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investor activity in Melbourne has picked up significantly, particularly from buyers in Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many investors who saw strong equity gains in their home states are now looking for opportunities in Melbourne, where relative affordability and higher rental yields present an attractive option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Melbourne buyer\u2019s agent Cate Bakos<\/a>, this investor movement is linked to the “wealth effect”, where equity gains encourage investors to expand their property portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had really strong investor interest from interstate, and my dominant batch of investors are from Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re looking for a different market where they can capitalise on potential growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This sentiment shift has also impacted local buyers<\/strong>, many of whom are now entering the market in fear of missing out on another rapid price surge, like in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brisbane\u2019s Housing Market : Unit Market Outpaces Houses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Brisbane\u2019s property market remains strong, particularly in the apartment sector, where unit values have surged 13.8% over the past year to reach a median of \u00a3675,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, house prices in Brisbane increased by 9.6%, reaching a median of \u00a3977,000. The affordability gap\u2014where units remain around \u00a3300,000 cheaper than houses\u2014has driven more buyers towards apartments, especially as overall property prices rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brisbane has now become Australia\u2019s second-most expensive capital city, a remarkable shift given its previous affordability advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Ray White Inner Brisbane Apartments principal Colin Walsh, demand for apartments is at its highest level in years, fuelled by strong population growth and affordability pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThere\u2019s more people looking to purchase, and units are a more affordable commodity than houses,\u201d -he said<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The housing market is showing renewed momentum following the RBA rate cut, with buyers re-entering as borrowing conditions improve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":102032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102033,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102028\/revisions\/102033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}