Weekly Market Update - 18 March 2019
By | 16th Mar 19

What you need to know about the current market conditions.

Melbourne's property market is showing some signs of a slow recovery with an improved 57% clearance rate from a larger volume of 628 auctions.  We are now starting to see some better results in Melbourne’s property market as we saw with a number of auctions on the weekend.  The stand out result was a house in Miller Street, Fitzroy North which sold $140,000 over reserve and there were four bidders fighting for that property.  Other solid results were in Blackburn where 5 bidders took the property $55,000 over reserve and Larnook Street, Prahran where there were three bidders and it sold $76,000 above reserve.  Also a house in Craigieburn had six bidders that took it $55,000 above reserve.  These results were not present late last year as many properties were passing in well below their reserves.

Many economists believe that multiple rate cuts are on the cards later this year. A number of them have said that they are expecting three cuts later this year which will hopefully help stimulate the economy and the housing market. Will the banks pass on the cuts if we get them?

Many investors have had to switch their loans from interest only to principal and interest. Previously they were not paying off principal but now they have to. Will this have an effect of having more properties on the market as some investors can’t afford to hold these properties anymore? 

Taxation on property represents a major revenue for the government. For the state government, 47% of Victorian’s tax income is derived from property and it’s the biggest revenue source. Land tax and stamp duty taxes are forecast to continue to increase at rates well above CPI for investors and buyers.