Property
Issue No. 51 - February/March 2010
Investors return to residential market
by Mr Kel Spencer
Figures just released by the Valuer-General reveal metropolitan median house price rose 6.25% to $382,500 in the December quarter, 2009 since the same period in 2008. This remarkable improvement was State-wide with a 5.77% increase to $352,000 from December 2008. A year ago, the annual increase was just 1.4% for the Adelaide metropolitan area and 4% for the state as a whole. These figures display that the property market during 2009 ascended exceedingly well in comparison to the year of 2008. The figures from the December quarter 2009 show an increase in median house prices and the number of market transactions, despite the Federal Government’s First Home Owners Boost being halved. It is evident that people’s confidence has been boosted by the state of SA’s housing market.
The halving of the First Home Owners Boost has not slowed the market, but rather given investors the opportunity to return. The beachside suburb of Somerton Park was a standout performer of 2009, with a vast growth of 35.64% on last year. The next best performing suburb after Somerton Park was Broadview, at 28.42% then Willaston, at 22.37%. Outer lying suburbs are still the most preferred at the moment due to the lower entry prices, but the reduction in government incentives is putting the brakes on first home buyers.
Table 1 lists the top growth suburbs based on median house prices for the December quarter 2009. From Table 1 it can be seen that the well-performing suburbs are those on the adjoining more affluent suburbs. Somerton Park is a suburb more financially accessible to those purchasers seeking a more affordable alternative to the flourishing suburb of Glenelg.
The other suburbs that experienced large growth are those of high affordability and accessibility to both investors and first home buyers alike such as Willaston, Hillbank and Elizabeth East.
Rental Market
The vacancy rate in metropolitan Adelaide fell in November 2009 to 1.18%, the lowest sin...
