“Momentum points to growth”

Hi everyone, I’m Jason Mudford from OBrien Corporate with the third edition of the monthly property news for 2024.

For February, the National Home Price Index according to our source CoreLogic rose 0.6 percent, which is the largest monthly increase we have had since October 2023. From a national perspective, the early 2024 momentum is great news for homeowners particularly coming off a 0.4 percent increase last month. From a capital city perspective, Perth continues to shine with a 1.8 percent rate of growth over the month. Other strong performing capital cities were Adelaide with 1.1 percent growth and Brisbane with 0.9 percent; however, Melbourne again was one of the worst performers with a mild 0.1 percent growth but most definitely Melbourne provides the most opportunities for great value buying.

There are 1300 homes scheduled for auction in Melbourne this weekend, which is up 40.2 percent on the same time last year, and last weekend was even an bigger one with 1457 auctions that saw a clearance rate of 64.7%. As you can see listing volumes and sales volumes are up more than normal for this time of the year and that mainly has to do with the earlier Easter holidays.

On the economic front, the economy is slowing which is music to the ears of investors and mortgage holders. The January CPI was released on 28 February which showed the annual inflation rate has now dropped to 3.4% which would make the new Reserve Bank Governor very happy. Consumer spending numbers over Christmas was released this week and that too shows people are spending less, down 2.7 percent in December. Employment numbers were also released this week with unemployment rising to 4.1 percent which is the first time in 2 years we have seen the rate edge over 4 percent.

The Aussie stock market like the real estate market has had a great start to 2024, Aussie stocks reached an all time high in January and again surpassed that this last month on the last day of February. Regional Victoria recorded growth in both units and houses in February and looks to be gaining momentum in what is predicted to be upswing in growth in regional cities in 2024.

A pickup in rental prices historically occurs in the first quarter of each new calendar year with job relocations, cadetships, internships, university placements, and fresh starts adding demand to the sector. We are likely to see the flow on of this demand into rental price increases throughout the next 2 to 3 months.

That’s all for this March, remember the information provided is of a general nature, you should always seek independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice in relation to your unique circumstances.

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