Housing Market - What Do You Think ?

[Guest The Greens]

I like to stay lite hearted and positive as much as possible, but I have a general concern about the housing market in Australia at the moment. No matter how much I try and read and seek opinions, I'm still nowhere nearer getting a definite picture in my mindset. This is worrying me and putting a bit of a downer on my thoughts and our plans.

 

My Question.

 

WHAT IS YOUR TRUTHFUL OPINION ON THE HOUSING MARKET IN AUSTRALIA AT PRESENT AND DO YOU FEEL THERE IS STILL BETTER VALUE FOR MONEY TO BE GAINED THERE THAN HERE IN THE UK. ? :wacko:

 

Our million-dollar suburbs | The Courier-Mail

 

I'm getting very mixed signals. I have tried reading up on things and through both this website and the British Expats site the signals are very mixed. Many Brits already over there have told me the baloon has gone up and the housing market is on such a high many people are being priced out as here in the UK. My God that really bothers and frightens me. Even the Mayor in Brisbane has said "their on fire" there refering to the current price boom.

 

Just wondering what everyone else thinks ?

 

EMMY :huh:

[Life on easy street]

The days of bieng able to move from the U.K and buy a cheap house

in Australia has long gone.

 

five years ago was probally the ideal time to move to Australia.

 

so unless you have capital to bring with you it is going to be struggle

for a few years.

 

Western Australia

Unfortunately housing cost have gone up in Perth

 

Housing

E.g.

A 1000 msq plot of land with a view of the sea cost approx 150k 5 years ago

To purchase 650 msq 450k today.

 

you then have to spend 150k to 250k for the house depending

on specification and developer.

 

No one can say if this is a peek value.

[calNgary]

Yes prices have climbed rapidly in the last 12mth but you still get much more for your money than the Uk.I cant see things changing (especially around brisbane) and i think prices will climb more yet.Anyone buying now shouldnt lose if they decided to sell in a year or so,hope this helps a bit

Cal x

[Guest Dave53]

Affordability is all down to that old saying "location location " . For example , In Sydney , 100 suburbs now have a median house price of $1Million or over .... Thats scary stuff !! . As Life on Easy Street says " Unless you have capital to bring out its going to be a struggle " , thats a very honest and accurate opinion .

[Guest The Greens]

Hi Guy's thanks for the replies.

 

How much Capital are we talking here? Do you have a figure in mind? :goofy:

[Guest property prospects]

Hi The Greens

 

I'll try and help out from my own personal experiences and knowledge.

 

My husband is into property full time now and we keep our eye on the market all the time.

 

Housing in Australia has been changing for the past 5 years.

Currently the situation is this :

Sydney - very expensive, decent family houses around the $500k plus mark are found about 1-2hrs out of Sydney. In and around Sydney apartments are easier to find but housing is definately high.

Perth - last year Perth caught up to Sydney with prices - over the past two years West Aust had a huge boom due to the mining there. Houses doubled and tripled - it was ridiculous. Now the bubble there has burst and although prices are still high they are now not climbing and the market has gone flat. Still not a time to buy well! We moved a year ago from WA and sold our property 40 mins from the CBD, before the bubble burst in the housing market boom, we over doubled our money! Looked at house prices and where we would like to live and decided that the Sunshine Coast was the place to buy. We have now moved to Queensland.

Darwin - Same as Perth (although very hot/humid and you cannot swim on the beaches due to crocs, sharks and jellyfish....) so although beautiful not our place of choice.

Tasmania - very affordable houses, lots of homes with views for great prices. However although the place is beautiful it gets very very cold (same as UK?) and not many facilities which means not many jobs - thus the low house prices.

Melbourne/Victoria - close to the CBD it gets pricey, the same as Brisbane if not a little higher. Good facilties as it is an older state and it is a large state so it depends on where you want to live on what price you pay for houses. It does get cold and is 'the' place to go skiing in Australia. Not a beachey type State simply due to the cool wet weather (it rains a hell of a lot).

Sunshine Coast/ Queensland - The boom hit Qld in 2004 (we were looking then but didn't buy as not a buyers market) things are now settling down - except for Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The housing here last year was a real buyers market with incredible deals, a year later and the housing market along the Sunshine Coast is reaching a peak and will stabilise with a few price hikes I think in 2008...but then it will boom again around 2010 - 2012 as there are many facilties being planned e.g. hospitals, shopping centres, rail links etc., for 2012. Those areas that are old and near the beach especially in the Sunshine Coast will continue to rise as the coastal area has not yet been commercialised like the Gold Coast, although property developers are slowly moving in, there are great investments to buy as the area is near the beach, uni, river etc.

 

Interest rates are around 6.8% or 7.6% for investment properties. There have been a couple of interest rate rises over the past few months due to market changes and elections. There will probably be another one or two changes in 2008 in interest rates.

 

Rentals are high now as the number of decent places to rent on the market are lessening as people are tending to buy investment/family homes and there are more people moving here. A 2 bedroom duplex can bring a rental income of $315 and a very average older family home with 3 beds/bath and single garage tends to rent for around $380pw (not something I would live in!). Newer places go for $450 - $800 depending on location.

 

We find that house prices double within a 3-5 year period depending on the market environment in Australia.

 

Australia I think is still better priced than the UK at the moment for what you get (of course this depends on location and what you want, it also depends if you are a renovator and what price you buy for compared to selling price). The buildings are different as well, Australia doesn't have many old 'historic' type houses or rows of attached houses like the UK (I've seen some council houses on the UK shows going for around 60,000 UK pounds at auction or around $180,000 AU Dollars - rural communities, dumps or lower socio areas will be around these prices here so be careful)....attached, council or high rise flats are not as common here, most are detached houses, duplexes, units, townhouses or apartments.

 

To buy a decent house in Australia (outside of the main cities) I would recommend you should have at least $550,000 available.

 

At the higher end $600,000 - $800,000 will get you something very nice and $1.2 - $2million will get you on the water, private beaches, private jetties etc.

 

Look at Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au and check out some of the houses in the areas you are thinking of coming to live.

 

Add around $20,000 for Stamp duty, solicitor/settlement agents and real estate fees in your budgets for a $550k house.

 

Capital - once again all depends on location and your lifestyle. It's very individual.

 

A few examples of the Sunshine Coast :

House on the canal 2 mins from the beach for $800k (spent $70k on pool, new jetty and renos and now worth around $1.2m) ....

 

Relative sold her small UK home for 380,000 pounds in Gloucestershire. The exchange rate was good and we helped her find a suitable home, she was able to buy herself a nice 4 bed, 2 bath, double garage house close to the canals about 8 mins from the beach and shops in a new area called Kawana Island for $650,000. This gave her around $220,000 left to furniture the house, buy a car and invest etc. (She gets a pension from England so now she is pretty well set or she could fix the garden and on-sell the house for $770,000).

 

Canal front 2/3 bedroom, lounge/kitchen with views townhouse (two houses attached to each other) with garage and garden to the rivers edge. In a managed complex. Cost $370,000 plus $500pa for managed fund (this goes towards cleaning and gardens in common areas).

 

Older house lounge, dining/ kitchen, family room 3 bed, 1 bth, double garage with good sized garden in cul-de-sac walk to the beach about 50 metres February 2007 for $495,000 (needed renovation but liveable). Houses in same street now going for $550,000 or $750,000 if renovated.

 

Work on the Sunshine Coast is plentiful - if you want to work that is, and if the Sunshine Coast is the place you are coming to (?).

 

We have found that real estate agents and media, hype the real estate market and are not necessarily correct - most of the time!!! After all real estate agents want to make money! My hubby knows houses inside out so we are pretty cluey on what is happening..... just go on to Real Estate for Sale, Rent and Share @ Domain.com.au or REIQ to see houses on the market. I would suggest to rent before buying so you can check out the areas first when you come over....

 

Hope this helps.

[Life on easy street]

[quote=The Greens;166815]Hi Guy's thanks for the replies.

 

How much Capital are we talking here? Do you have a figure in mind? :goofy:

It really depends on your expectations.

But anything less than 50k Pounds and you are still struggling.

 

Yes you can get 100% mortgages but I would never recommend it.

 

"A bank will lend you an umbrella when it is sunny only to take it off you the moment it starts to rain"

[Guest Colin R]

I'm a little fed up well actually a lot fed up with people who obviously havent been to Tasmania . The only thing that I agree with is that Tasmania is very beautiful. We do have more reasonable priced houses than the rest of Australia, but as the mainlanders have found ,Tassie is their countries best kept secret and are subsquently buying big chunks of it. They are also moving over to Tassie because of the fact that it ia great safe place to bring up their children, crime is low, we have no real water shortages in large parts of Tasmania . IT IS NOT VERY VERY COLD, in fact it rarely gets into single figures and I should know I live here. I have not had to wear a coat all Winter our house has 6 bedrooms and is 28 squares and the only heating we have or need is a wood heater . There are numerous jobs available and plenty of opportunities over here . As for facilities I not sure what else you would need that isn't over here . It is certainly exceeds any facilites we had in the Uk even !!!!!!!!!!!!! So before anyone passes judgement on Tasmania may I suggest that they visit themselves. A

[Guest The Greens]

Many thanks for the replies to you all, and what a great detailed reply off you (property Prospects). You put a lot of time into that for me. Thanks again. Luckily we have visited Australia quite a few times and have plumped for the Brisbane area as we like the combination of city life and beaches close bye. Also Tony my hub, is a rugby fanatic and thinks Brisbane is good for that.

 

Luckily for us, Tony's a builder (original Auf Wiedesen Pet character) and has just sold up the business, and luckily capital is not an issue for us, and that's not wishing to sound a big shot. He's built houses from single detached projects to 100 house estates, and worked from Ireland, England to Dubai, Sweden, Germany and even built a copy Spanish style villa in India of all places for 1 very very rich private client, who wanted even the taps in the bathroom in gold, can you believe it!!. Hopefully in Oz he will be taking it a bit easier, but I doubt it knowing him. We will keep our house in England for the first few years, as my sister lives there with us, so we don't want to see her having to move. Maybe she will follow us to Oz when she's ready. :biglaugh:

 

Once again thanks for the replies and the info and I hope all your plans work out well.

 

Bbiiii

EMMY