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Where To Buy Residential Property?
240,000 New Homes Shortfall Likely.
Homebuyers and investors got a shock lately: they mightn’t be able to source new homes in the near future because there won’t be enough!
According to the News.com.au website, Australia will have 175,000 fewer homes than the million it needs over the next five years unless it rapidly expands new construction starts.
A story by staff writers on June 30 quotes the Housing Industry Association as saying the shortfall could even be 240,000 if more people choose to live alone.
With household sizes continuing to shrink, the chief executive of HIA policy, Chris Lamont reportedly said supply must increase ‘rapidly’ if demands are to be met.
Otherwise there ‘will almost certainly be a growth in further affordability woes and in the number of homeless.’ He said Australia’s population grew 1.6% last year – 332,000 residents – with rising immigration and more people choosing a lone lifestyle the key factors in housing demand.
The story also reported a 3.5% fall in the quarterly HIA/Commonwealth Bank First Home Buyer Affordability Industry index – a figure 10% down on the same period last year.
Mortgage repayments now represented 29.1% of an average first homebuyer’s income – the highest percentage on record, it said.
At the same time, the supply of new houses was decreasing as rates – at a 12-year high - put the squeeze on the property market.
Tasmania had a 13.3% decline, Queensland 9%, Western Australia 7.3%, Victoria 4.8% and the ACT 16.9%. On the upside, South Australia rose 24.7%, NSW was up 9.3% and the Northern Territory rose 14.9%.
Source: Glenn Moat, Devine
Date: 30th June 2008
Publication: News.com.au
