Affordability for home buyers and renters is a key issue in Hobart and across the nation. Picture: Supplied
NEW home for sale listings increased in Hobart in February while affordability has continued to decline.
This was the takeaway from two housing market reports released in the past week.
Hobart recorded a 20.6 per cent increase in the number of new properties listed for sale on realestate.com.au compared month-on-month, per the latest PropTrack Listings Report.
Hobart’s total listings were also up by about 15 per cent month-on-month, too.
Nonetheless, on the back of extreme competition throughout 2021 — and for many years — the total stock of properties available for sale remains -12.8 per cent lower than at the same time last year in regional Tasmania and -8.8 per cent in the capital city.
This comes as the number of total properties listed for sale across the country saw the biggest monthly increase since the pandemic began.
New listings are growing but total listings remain down.
New February listings in regional Tasmania surged 49 per cent higher compared to January, which PropTrack described as the “largest monthly increase on record”.
PropTrack economist and report author Angus Moore said market activity in Hobart remained strong in February.
“Across the capital cities, January and February saw the busiest start to a year since 2014,” he said.
“As we head into the typically busier Autumn selling season, selling conditions are likely to remain strong over the next few months. But there are some headwinds further out.”
Mr Moore said measures of buyer demand remain strong but look to be easing from the exceptional levels seen in late 2021.
At the same time, he said interest rates look likely to rise later this year or early next year, which may start to “cool buyer appetite”.
PropTrack economist Angus Moore.
Meanwhile, the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s December Housing Affordability Report found that the proportion of family income needed to meet loan repayments in Tasmania has worsened.
In December 2020 it was 30.5 per cent of the family budget, but in December 2021 it reached 33.3 per cent, which was higher than SA, WA, NT and the ACT.
Mortgage stress is commonly defined as paying more than 30 per cent of a household’s income towards mortgage repayments.
On the rental front, the proportion of income also reached 30 per cent in Tassie in December, up from 28.7 per cent one year prior.
REIA president Hayden Groves.
(function(videojs) {
var videoId = “6300575476001-8”;
var video = videojs(videoId);
var globalId = “iris_6300575476001_8”;
video.pluginDev(videojs.mergeOptions({}, { start_up_next: false, end_up_next: false, global: globalId, ssl: true, thumbs_down: false, thumbs_up: false
}));
})(window.videojs);
(function(videojs) {
var videoId = “6300575476001-8”;
var durationElement = document.createElement(‘div’);
durationElement.className = ‘vjs-overlay-duration’;
var durationFragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
durationFragment.appendChild(durationElement); var video = videojs(videoId);
video.overlay({ overlays: [{ align: ‘bottom’, content: durationFragment, showBackground: false, start: ‘loadstart’, end: ‘play’ }]
});
video.on(‘loadstart’, updateVideoDurationOverlay);
video.ready(function() { var isOverlayActive = true; video.on(‘play’, function() { if (isOverlayActive) { isOverlayActive = false; video.overlay({ overlays: [] }); } }); updateVideoDurationOverlay();
}); function updateVideoDurationOverlay() { var myPlayer = this; if (myPlayer.mediainfo && myPlayer.mediainfo.duration) { var duration = secondsToMMSS(myPlayer.mediainfo.duration); durationElement.textContent = duration; }
}
function secondsToMMSS(totalSeconds) { var minutes = Math.floor((totalSeconds) / 60); var seconds = totalSeconds – (minutes * 60); // remove any decimals seconds = Math.round(seconds); var result = minutes + “:” + (seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds); return result;
}
})(window.videojs);
The report also found that loans to first-time buyers dipped by -29.2 per cent throughout 2021.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves said affordability for home buyers and renters was a key issue and with interest rate rises looming, affordability could soon worsen.
“We are urging governments to get on the front foot with this issue by prioritising housing supply shortages,” he said.
“This is the most effective way of getting affordability under control.”
The post Mortgage stress the norm while listings uptick appeared first on realestate.com.au.
