Investment Property Melbourne

Forget about the GFC (even though it’s been largely influenced by the USA misfortune) – Australia’s economy is alive and kicking, and has pretty much made it through the GFC unscathed.

The Government and the Reserve Bank have had a large hand in this, taking anticipatory action, and the result is all good – stability on all fronts. Their policy decisions have actually done some good, believe it or not. And consequently, the Australian property market has come out in pretty good shape.

Throughout 2009, it had been noticed that property prices saw Australian property prices continuing to go up in value. The first half of 2009 was a bit dodgy, as we all remember, with definite peaks and troughs in the property market statistics. But by late 2009, Sydney and Melbourne in particular had really lifted their game with increased activity in the market.

The First Home Owners Grant got dumped in late 2009, and that was a pretty big deal and at first had a bit of an effect on investors. However long term, this is unlikely to affect the market in any great shape or form, as property investors and home owners alike get back into the market.

The news is all good: prices are set to increase. Property experts say that in terms of a 12 hour property clock, if boom is midday and the low point is 6am, then we are approximately 7am. Meaning: time to get in to the market, and it’s still ahead of the ‘sheep’ who will only figure out we are in a boom when it gets to 11am, when it’s almost too late!

Did you know a bunch of TV shows on property are slated from all the major networks this year? That means, The Block and similar sorts of programmes. What do you think that will do to the market?

Correct. Boomarama!

The December 2009 ANZ Australian Property Outlook predicted that economic growth is in the limelight, due to the extremely high population growth that Australia is experiencing.

This means we are also seeing an increase in the number of new buildings, as well as and strong developments in the mining and infrastructure industries.

If you are into property investing or thinking about increasing your property portfolio, all sings point to 2010 and 2011 being fantastic years to do it in.

The national median for the average house price has risen by 10% in the last part of 2009, and of course random world events could happen at any time to shake the predictions we make with our ‘best guess’, but interest rates seem to be stable enough at the time being to make it worth the risk of getting in to the property game slightly ahead of the sheep, and therefore slightly ahead of the massive boom experts agree we are poised for in Australia.

Last year we saw almost record breaking low vacancy rates in most states in the nation. This is all good news for people thinking of buying an investment property. Property experts have been predicting for a while that the needed amount of housing to be able to keep up with demand will not be nearly enough in the forseeable future, which means that housing availability is going to decrease, meaning that property prices are going to go up, specially during this year.

Melbourne in particular is set to experience capital gains to put a smile on a landlord or investor’s face in 2010, as property trends are all suggesting that vacancy rates are going to be peaking at about 8 percent.

Melbourne actually smashed it in 2009, with statistics for house prices up by a massive 14.9 %.

Why is this? Why is Melbourne caning it? It’s basically because the population of Victoria is increasing. In the first half of 2009, 114,000 people moved to Vic – and lots of them wanted to either buy a property or rent a house in Melbourne itself.
Statistics like this equals boom. That is – property and house prices went up, and we also saw rents going up, as demand outstripped supply.

Experts forsee big changes ahead for Melbourne as the constant demand for houseing in the inner suburbs continues to boost the property market. There are loads of huge projects on the go, like new roads, new transport infrastructure, all of which mean more housing development in the satellite suburbs of Melbourne, particularly around the new Regional Railway Express project that is occuring in the regions of Geelong, Ballart and Bendigo.

These country towns and larger regional areas are going to be much more linked with Melbourne in the future, by train and road, and so demand will increase in what is predicted to be a growth corridor.

There is definitely no need to be depressed about the housing market in Melbourne in 2010, as it is is set to be good year on all fronts. Prices are expected to hold or rise.

As of writing, we are halfway through 2010 already and the stats will be about 6 months behind. But seriously? ‘Property will never be this cheap again.’

And that last statement has been true since about the year dot!

Barbara Griffin