An economic recovery is beginning on the Gold, Sunshine coasts and Greater Brisbane according to the latest rental vacancy rate information from the Real Estate of Queensland. Rental vacancy rates are frequently seen early indicators of tradesmen and women and professional project managers - moving to areas as new jobs begin to emerge. A rental vacancy of 2.5 per cent or lower is regarded as a tight market, with rental properties snapped up quickly, suggesting just 2.5 per cent of the...

Over the first quarter of 2015, rental rates on a national basis have risen by 1.3 per cent for houses and units, while,
across the combined capital cities, advertised weekly house and unit rents have risen 1.2 per cent over the three months to the end of March 2015. Key rental statistics to March Quarter 2015 Houses $410 Median rent 0.0% Quarterly Change 0.0% YTD Change 2.5% ...

Across Australia, homes are being owned for longer, with the average number of years a capital city house is owned climbing from 6.8 years a decade ago to 10.5 years over the past twelve months. An analysis of the homes which were sold in 2014 showed that across the combined capital cities, houses had been owned for an average of 10.5 years and units for 8.7 years. A year earlier the average hold period of those homes sold was 10.1 years for houses and 8.4 years for units. Across the reg...

The majority of Brisbane suburbs recorded strong growth in both houses and units throughout 2014, with some suburbs recording unprecedented annual growth in median prices. Figure 1 provides a snapshot of Brisbane's Key Market Indicators. KEY MARKET INDICATORS Change from Last Year Half Year House sales Decrease Decrease House median Increase Increase ...

Analyst and author Cameron Kusher noted that making a gross profit or loss on property differs significantly from property-to-property and area-to-area, and in some instances is based on the length of time a property has been owned.  For homes purchased on or after January 1st, 2008, the propensity to make a loss on the resale climbs substantially. Of those homes that resold over the December 2014 quarter, 14.1 per cent recorded a gross loss relative to the previous purchase price. ...

Residential real estate sales in Queensland have hit a five-year high, according to new statistics from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ). The fresh data reveals Queensland recorded $51 billion worth of residential real estate transactions in 2014, the highest level since 2010. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said sales volumes also hit a five year high in 2014, with approximately 114,000 transactions recorded throughout the State. "The value of transactions in Queensla...

The Reserve Bank (RBA) released the minutes of its monthly board meeting early this week. At the meeting the RBA's board decided to keep official interest rates on hold at 2.25% following a 25 basis point cut to rates the previous month. The minutes revealed that in deciding to keep interest rates on hold the board had decided to give the economy time to adjust to the cut in rates the previous month. The minutes did note that while the cash rate was going to be on hold i...

Never before has the Brisbane skyline changed as much as it will in the coming 5 years.  There is an explosion of new residential apartments on the way and what this will do to the Brisbane real estate market is what everyone is questioning. 
Some facts on what is happening: Within a 2km radius of the CBD there are over 20,000 new apartments either under construction or with development approval In this same radius (2km) there are a further 9,000 apartments seekin...

CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index Release CoreLogic RP Data February Home Value Index results released today showed that Australia's combined capital cities have seen dwelling values rise by a further 0.3 per cent in February taking home values 8.3 per cent higher over the past twelve months. According to CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless, dwelling values continued their upwards trajectory over the month of February by recording a 0.3 per cent gain over the month. This ...

It is without doubt that the Australian housing market has achieved significant, at times unprecedented, price growth in 2014.  As an overall, regional areas have also experienced a boost in price growth - albeit at a slower rate in comparison to capital cities. A question posed by property players (buyers, investors, and commentators alike) is whether or not such growth is sustainable (in particular Sydney); and if perhaps we are heading towards a property crash in the near future. ...