Australian House Prices
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that house prices have fallen across Australia over the past year. High interest rates and increasing property prices forced many people out of the market during the past few years but when the bubble burst and rates came down in the final quarter of 2008, property prices started to fall.
According to ABS data Brisbane saw the biggest drop of 3.3 per cent between the June 08 quarter and the September 08 quarter. This was followed by Canberra, which saw prices drop 2.5 per cent. Sydney and Melbourne saw drops of around 1.8 per cent and Perth dropped 1.1 per cent. Adelaide fell only 0.1 per cent while Hobart and Darwin saw prices increase slightly, by 0.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent.
Lower property prices have concerned some home owners, who are seeing the value of their home fall below that of their mortgage.
But for first time buyers, the falling prices are proving tempting, and with the increase to the first homebuyer grant, mortgage brokers have reported a large increase in the numbers of first homebuyers wanting to purchase a property.
The outlook is for property prices to keep falling but many economists are confident that proces will not crash too far and that prices will eventually pick up again once consumer confidence is restored.
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