Suburbia gets the city flick
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Suburbia gets the city flick
Messenger News Latest Real Estate Institute of SA figures show the number of units and apartments sold in the City of Adelaide reached 85 for the March quarter, … |
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House prices on rise in Tea Tree Gully
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House prices on rise in TTG
Leader Messenger Latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of SA show the median price in Tea Tree Gully hit $420000 in the March quarter, up from $327500 for the … |
Housing market bounces back from financial crisis
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Housing market bounces back from financial crisis
ABC Online The median house price for metropolitan Adelaide has passed the $400000 mark for the first time. The Real Estate Institute of South Australia says the … Regional SA property surges ahead |
Homes to be forced into energy audits
The assessment has to be done before any property can be sold or rented under new laws to tackle carbon emissions.
The mandatory assessment – being drafted into law by the federal and state governments – will rate homes by an energy efficiency star system, similar to the ratings given to fridges and washing machines.
It will apply to all commercial properties from later this year and to all residential properties from May 2011, Adelaide Now reports.
A spokesman for State Energy Minister Pat Conlon said the ratings would inform prospective owners or tenants of a building’s energy use, so they could factor it in to their buying or rental decision.
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The spokesman said details of the “Mandatory Disclosure” scheme – including who would carry out the assessments and how much they would cost – were yet to be decided.
Energy efficiency expert Arthur Grammatopoulos, of Helica Architecture, said rating properties could cost up to $1500 per house.
“I think this is a positive move for the industry but the question has to be asked, will there be enough experts to cope with demand when the law is introduced?” he said.
A similar scheme with a six-star rating has been operating in the Australian Capital Territory’s property market for several years.
Queensland’s State Government introduced a mandatory Sustainability Declaration form on January 1, requiring homeowners to declare their property’s green credentials to prospective buyers or risk a $2000 fine.
Mandatory disclosure has been criticised by property experts as an unwarranted expense that will not influence purchasing decisions or cut household pollution.
The Real Estate Institute of SA said governments were playing environmentally “popular politics” by introducing a law that they say will simply add to the cost of selling and renting a home.
“I think they are patronising people who are making the biggest purchase decision of their life by thinking a rating system will influence that decision,” REISA chief executive Greg Troughton said.
“It’s already hard enough to buy and sell a home and this is just another financial impost that also has the potential to delay the sale of a property.”
While Mr Troughton said vendors would bear the cost of having their home rated by a licensed expert, independent SA MLC and former Valuer-General John Darley said landlords would look to pass the cost on to tenants.
“This will be an extra cost to working families who have to rent because they can’t afford a mortgage,” he said.
“And we need this like a hole in the head unless the governments can convince us there is a definite benefit, like a reduction in household pollution.”
The Council of Australian Government’s National Strategy on Energy Efficiency says Mandatory Disclosure will “help households and businesses prepare for the introduction of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme”.
More homes worth $1m
That’s the figure home buyers will face if the state’s property boom of the past 10 years is repeated this decade, according to real estate analysts.
The predicted rate of price growth – the highest in Australia after WA – would propel tens of thousands of houses into the seven-figure price bracket, with SA’s median price forecast to exceed $960,000.
It will also create more than 268 million-dollar suburbs and towns across the state – up from the current four, according to data provided to the Sunday Mail.
And of the top 10 locations based on the rate of price increase, four are located in regional SA.
By simply projecting forward the price rises recorded in suburbs and towns over the past decade, Australian Property Monitors has provided a crystal ball for South Australians to gaze into the potential real estate market in three, five and 10 years’ time.
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Since 1999 the median Adelaide house price has jumped from $148,300 to $427,260 in 2009, or 11.4 per cent a year, according to APM sales data.
If that rate of growth continues over the next decade, Adelaide median house prices will reach $1,231,000, according to APM calculations. The state’s most expensive suburb would be Unley Park, with houses typically worth $4.1 million.
Even the metropolitan suburb with the cheapest houses today, Elizabeth North, will more than quadruple from $180,000 to $589,000.
AMP economist Matthew Bell said several factors would drive real estate price rises.
“With SA’s increasing exposure to the resources industry, combined with the property demand driven by defence sector employment and the relative under performance in the last year or two, the longer-term outlook for prices is relatively good,” he said.
“The average long-term forecast of 11.4 per cent for the next 10 years is behind only that of WA.”
Leading real estate agent Anthony Toop said this projection could prove true.
“I definitely think it’s possible that the price increase of the past 10 years could be repeated,” he said.
“SA has a growing defence industry, an army battalion is being relocated to Adelaide and we are on the verge of a mining boom.
“The population is growing while a lack of supply of new housing will drive prices up.”
But such a price growth would provide a grim outlook for the next generation seeking home ownership, former valuer-general and current Independent MLC John Darley warned.
“This will continue to drive up prices in the future and from that point of view the APM price projections are probably justified,” he said. “Things are bad enough for first-home buyers and those on low incomes, but as prices rise so does the amount of stamp duty paid.”
Hotspot suburbs – homes to pass $2m
THEY may seem poles apart but the former working class suburb of Greenacres and the southern Yorke Peninsula tourist town of Point Turton have been South Australia’s property hotspots in the past decade.
And if they continue the trend, homeowners at these spots will enjoy massive price rises worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Point Turton – 2 1/2 hours’ drive from Adelaide – has topped SA for price appreciation since 1999 with annual increases of 18 per cent, real estate analyst Australian Property Monitors says.
House prices in the town overlooking Hardwicke Bay have jumped from a median $71,600 a decade ago to $382,500 and, at this rate, will pass $2 million in the next 10 years.
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Real estate agent Peter Tonkin, who has been selling in the area since 1990, said the boom was driven by significant land release and home construction, and the momentum could continue.
“With the amount of new land release and development planned – including a new shopping centre – I think the price rise can continue,” said Mr Tonkin, principal of Professionals Yorketown and Minlaton.
Greenacres – with an annual increase of 17 per cent in the same period – was Adelaide’s hottest property, APM sales data shows. Surrounding suburbs Hillcrest, Hampstead Gardens and Northfield also made SA’s top 10 list.
If Greenacres’ growth rate continues, houses will fetch a median $1,728,000 by 2019.
Brock Harcourts executive director Greg Moulton said the area had benefited from major capital injections due to housing development and sub-division of large blocks.
“This, combined with the existing houses coming off a low price base, has helped push up property values,” Mr Moulton said. “And I can still see good future price growth but probably at more modest levels because much of the housing stock has already been improved.”
While all locations are expected to experience significant price rises by the end of the decade, some show prices stagnating or even reversing in the short term, APM economist Matthew Bell said.
“This simply mirrors price movements in the previous corresponding time period,” he said.
Professor Andrew Beer, director of the Flinders Institute for Housing, Urban and Regional Environment, said SA house prices were likely to continue their upward trend in the next few years before levelling out.
“After about three years the prices will plateau,” he said.
“These increases in property prices are unsustainable. There is a significant distance between house prices and wages which will overrule people’s ability to enter the market (and reduce demand).”
The Bureau of Statistics found the median SA full-time weekly wage increased only 6 per cent a year in the past decade, compared with the annual 11.4 per cent property price rise monitored by APM.
How much is your property worth? Pages 82-84
THE FORMULA
THE forecast percentages are based on historical sales data. No other economic factors have been taken into consideration.
It’s simply what your area would be worth if it went up in price for the next five and 10 years at the same rate as it has over the past decade.
Of course, for areas which have grown from a very low base over the past decade, there is no certainty they can continue at such a rate.
If there isn’t a forecast figure shown it means that there were not enough sales to formulate a median price in one of the years used in the calculation.
Family finds grass is greener
GEMMA and Andrew Wilkinson travelled halfway around the world to find their perfect home in the northeastern suburb of Greenacres.
And the couple from England said they were not surprised their new location was tipped to be a big price mover in coming years.
“It’s a great suburb, has affordable prices but it’s near the city, close to shops, and lots of public transport, and with all the subdivision and new homes being built, the place is definitely on the up,” said Mr Wilkinson, a 41-year-old print worker.
It took almost three years of house-hunting after arriving in Adelaide in 2006 before the pair bought the newly-built home on Manoora St. They had planned to move interstate once the mandatory two-year SA residency requirement on their permanent visa expired.
But they fell in love with Adelaide’s lifestyle and then with their home, which is not surprising given it overlooks a park – with football oval, children’s playground and tennis courts. They were also impressed with being just 20 minutes’ drive from the CBD and access to public transport.
At a cost of $387,500, the couple moved in a year ago to their three-bedroom home with back yard and garage.
This is far superior to the home they sold in their native Nottingham for more than $300,000, which had no yard or garage and one less bedroom but was further from the city centre.