Melissa Jenkins
(Australian Associated Press)
Australia’s property market remains at a stand-still except in Melbourne and Perth.
Home values across the nation’s capital cities crept up by just 0.2 per cent during the last month and have grown by 9.4 per cent over the past year, according to the latest figures from property analytics firm, CoreLogic.
Prices in Melbourne lifted 0.6 per cent over the last month, while values in Perth fell by the same amount.
Sydney and Brisbane home values rose by just 0.1 per cent, while prices in Adelaide were stagnant.
The slowdown follows Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority intervention to limit interest-only loans to 30 per cent of lenders’ new mortgages.
But the cost of a house in the most populated cities remains eye-wateringly high, with an average home costing $900,000 in Sydney and $711,500 in Melbourne.
And it’s been revealed Australians are lying on their mortgage applications to secure bank loans.
Only 67 per cent of borrowers surveyed by leading investment bank UBS rated their applications as completely factual and accurate, with 32 per cent admitting to documents that were mostly or partially accurate.
False statements included saying they earnt more than they really did, inflating the value of assets, and under-estimating living expenses.
UBS, which which surveyed 907 borrowers who had taken out a loan over the past 12 months, estimates this means there is about $500 billion of so-called “liar loans” on banks’ books.
“While household debt levels, elevated house prices and subdued income growth are well known, these findings suggest mortgagors are more stretched than the banks believe, implying losses in a downturn could be larger than the banks anticipate,” UBS said.
On the auction front, the national preliminary clearance rate recovered to 70.2 per cent in the week to September 10 compared with the previous week’s 66.4 per cent revised final clearance rate, which was the the lowest since June 2016.
More properties were taken to auction than at the same time last year, with 2,225 homes going under the hammer, up from 2,062 last year.
CAPITAL CITY PRIVATE TREATY MEDIAN PRICES
HOUSES
Sydney – $900,000
Melbourne – $711,500
Canberra – $600,000
Brisbane – $520,000
Perth – $496,000
Darwin – $472,500
Adelaide – $425,000
Hobart – $395,000
Combined capitals – $673,672
UNITS
Sydney – $700,000
Melbourne – $541,000
Canberra – $428,950
Perth – $400,000
Darwin – $395,000
Brisbane – $375,500
Adelaide – $327,500
Hobart – $306,250
Combined capitals – $565,337
Source: CoreLogic Property Market Indicator Summary week ending September 10, 2017.
