Brighter And some

Market Update: So far this year the housing market hit TWO major records… but will changes to JobSeeker slow things down?

by Dan D'Silva, Property Consultant 4 March 2021

A lack of supply is driving the biggest lift in Australian house prices in 17.5 years.

Nationally, housing supply is sitting at historically low levels, 26.2 per cent below the same time last year, Corelogic research director Tim Lawless said the mismatch between supply and demand is a central factor pushing prices higher.

This drove house prices up 2.1 per cent nationally according to the Corelogic home value index for February.

And the second record…. Queenslanders have hit a new high for home borrowing at $4.3b, a massive 74 per cent jump on the same time last year.

This equals six straight months in a row of record rises for new loan commitments for owner occupiers (excluding refinancing), according to Australian Bureau of Statistics January data.

Enter changes to the JobSeeker supplement… the JobSeeker supplement has already been reduced significantly in recent months, with no impact apparent on the housing market as a whole and it’s expected that little direct impact will be seen on housing market values.

It is noted that lower income households generally have lower rates of home ownership, so the better part of households receiving JobSeeker are renters. This could lead to an indirect impact where reduced rental returns could reduce an investor’s willingness to pay for a property.

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