Pricing gaps across product types and capital cities are widening

www.first2move.com.au

The cost of Sydney housing relative to other capital cities is widening and the cost of buying a house as opposed to a unit is increasing as a record number of units commence construction.
The cost of Sydney housing relative to other capital cities is widening and the cost of buying a house as opposed to a unit is increasing as a record number of units commence construction.
According to median selling prices over the three months to December 2014 published in the CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index report, the gap between capital city house and unit prices has never been greater. As at December 2014, the capital city median house price was almost 20% higher than the capital city median house price. In dollar value terms, median house prices are $100,000 greater than unit prices.
Median prices are good for measuring relativity of pricing between markets and to demonstrate the typical price that homes are selling for over a specific period. Because a median price can be substantially biased by different buyer segments that are active or inactive in the market, the median price isn’t a reliable indicator for measuring the rate of capital gain over time

Sydney has the largest differential between median house and unit prices across the capital cities at $243,000. Melbourne ($170,000), Brisbane ($102,000), Perth ($110,000) and Canberra ($172,000) each also have a difference between house and unit prices in excess of $100,000. Across the remaining capital cities, the gap between house and unit prices are recorded at: $87,800 in Adelaide, $80,000 in Hobart and $32,000 in Darwin.
In Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra the percentage difference between house and unit prices has never been greater than it is currently. In Brisbane and Perth the differential is at a near record high. This goes some way to explaining why we are seeing record high dwelling commencements for units. In particular, there is a large volume of new unit stock being constructed in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. There is growing demand for unit stock, both from investors and owner occupiers and the sheer affordability difference between house and unit prices goes some way to explaining this growing level of demand. The challenge will be ensuring that overdevelopment doesn’t occur; demand has increased for higher density housing stock but the level of apartment development currently taking place is unprecedented. Remember that units have typically been the domain of investors rather than owner occupiers.


(Source: CoreLogic )

Comments