Welcome to our October Property Update.

The biggest news in property at the moment is last week a court ruling that strata complexes cannot ban pets. Good news for pet owners in strata complexes.

The Federal budget was handed down 2 weeks ago. Unlike previous years, there were no major impacts for property owners and investors, aside from personal income tax cuts for everyone and an extension of the First Home Loan deposit scheme.  This was more a budget aimed at businesses and jobs.

The official interest rate remains at 0.25%, however many are expecting it to be lowered to 0.1% at the November RBA meeting.

Property investor activity in the Australian housing market has been falling since early 2015. The latest Australian Beaureau Statistics housing finance data shows investor participation in mortgage finance is at a new record low in August of 23.5%, significantly lower than the decade average of 36.1%.

Sydney dwelling prices fell by -0.3% in September down by -1.6% over the last quarter, yet still up 7.7% in the past year. Nationally we are up 4.8% year on year.

The number of properties for sale is still a massive issue, across the nation, new properties listed for sale are down 21.9% year on year.

Auction clearance rate is increasing, but not yet a reliable indicator.

Rents recovered 0.1% nationally in September, bringing annual rental growth to 0.7%.

Please call or email should you have any property related questions.