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Prices Booming Across The World

Australians aren’t the only ones experiencing a property market boom, with a new report revealing New Zealand is chalking up some of the highest price increases in the world.

Auckland was in the same league as Montreal, Los Angeles and Toronto, which all recorded price increases of at least 30% since early last year.

Montreal, up 39%, had the highest growth of the 21 cities analysed by Juwai IQI, which compared the latest 2021 price data with the first quarter of 2020. Auckland’s prices grew 32%.

Juwai IQI Group executive chairman Georg Chmiel says Australian cities were near the centre of the pack. Sydney was the highest-ranking capital city in Australia, followed by Perth which was in 9th spot. Brisbane ranked 11th in the list and Melbourne was ranked 14th.

Chmiel says Australian prices increases are “mild” compared with other capital cities of the world.

75% Expect Growth In Next Year

It’s not just owner-occupiers who are feeling happy about the property market, with investors also overwhelmingly positive about future price growth prospects.

The latest Australian Property Investor magazine Quarterly Investor Sentiment Survey shows that 68% of investors are positive about the market and three-quarters expect prices to grow in the next 12 months.

While price increases from the current national boom have a few concerned, it isn’t enough to deter the 52% of investors who still want to buy.

Affordability is top of mind for most investors, followed by concerns about growth potential and whether tenants will find it difficult to pay rent during future lockdowns.

A third of investors say they are planning to buy within the next 12 months, with Queensland the state most would like to buy in. Many say they have already reduced their costs by taking advantage of the current low interest rates to refinance their loans.

Auctions Strong Amid Lockdowns

The latest auction clearance rates show that once again lockdowns are not enough to put off determined property buyers.

Auctions moved to online last week while Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were all in lockdown and while the number of properties offered for auction dropped a little, clearance rates didn’t.

Of the 1,672 properties to be put to “virtual auction” 76.4% sold, according to preliminary CoreLogic data.
About 10% of properties which were to go to auction last week were withdrawn during the lockdowns.

Melbourne was the most active auction market last week with 710 homes offered under the hammer achieving a preliminary clearance rate of 74%. In Sydney 576 homes went to auction with 80% sold, while in Brisbane 160 properties went to auction recording a preliminary clearance rate of 68%.

Auctions continued to be strong in other capital cities not in lockdown with Canberra recording a clearance rate of 87%, Adelaide 78% and Perth 71%.