Page 19 - Tropic Magazine Issue 38
P. 19

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




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