Page 19 - Tropic Magazine Issue 38

TROPIC • REAL ESTATE

Number crunch

PROPERTY
The cooling of the property
market as a result of interest
rate rises is having minimal
impact on prices in Cairns.

Words: Renee Cluff
The Cairns market recently saw another
record high for median house prices, up Cairns, September
to $450,000 despite consecutive interest That’s no longer occurring, with buyers
rate increases. Local agents say prices now taking their time to weigh up their Median asking sales prices
haven’t yet plunged, although there has options. The unit market also remains Houses
been a noticeable increase in average days strong, with the median price up $35,000 $449, 977 ↑ $75,000
on the market. Earlier in the year, buyers in September compared with the same
were experiencing FOMO (fear of missing month in 2021. Year on year
out), leading to super-fast offers and In the rental market, a continuing Rolling month change ↑ 0.1%
properties being bought sight unseen. imbalance between supply and demand
is seeing vacancies still at crisis-point. Units
As rising interest rates affect borrowing $284,514 ↑ $35,000
capacities, there’s likely to be fewer Year on year
investors, which will further impact Rolling month change ↑ 1.7%
supply. If the cash rate reaches three per
cent as the Reserve Bank of Australia
(RBA) has alluded to, maximum
borrowing capacities will be reduced by Median asking rent prices
close to 30 per cent. Houses
However, the RBA also says that of the $525 ↑ $42
60 per cent of all borrowers who currently
have variable-rate loans, 40 per cent of Year on year
them are yet to see an increase to their
monthly payments. That’s because many Units
kept their repayments at the same level $389 ↑ $34
while interest rates declined over the past Year on year
decade or so. The RBA board, however,
has said that it expects to continue to
hike the cash rate over the months ahead
to put the brakes on inflation. It’s now Residential vacancy rate
forecasting the Consumer Price Index
(CPI) to hit 7.75 per cent by year’s end. Cairns 0.6% = the figure for the
same period last year
*July figure
MORE: tropicnow.com.au Source: SQM research

19 • tropicnow.com.au