The property market is showing signs of cooling down as we head towards Christmas, with Melbourne’s auction clearance rate dropping to its lowest level since spring began.
It’s about to become harder to get finance in mining towns as banks rein in loans in resource sector areas.
In its final meeting of the year the RBA has kept interest rates on hold.
The RBA released a statement that was identical to the previous month, stressing that the value of the Australian dollar was ‘still uncomfortably high’.
New research from realestate.com has found that across Australia a healthy 41 per cent of property buyers in the market in September and October were willing to bid above the asking price.
Saturday’s recorded auction clearance rate of 67 per cent was the lowest recorded for five months.
The RBA governor Glenn Stevens has said he wants the sliding Australian dollar to continue to fall until it hits around the 85 US cents mark.
The figures are out for house prices in capital cities for 2013, and they rose by nearly 10 per cent.
That’s the highest rise in house prices for four years in Australia.
Warehouses might be a good option for an investment over a residential property, with the rising use of the internet and e-commerce leading to an increased demand.
Australia’s unemployment rate remains at a four-year high of 5.8 per cent.
Figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show the economy lost 31,600 full-time jobs in December.
Loan-to-value ratios (LVR’s) are in decline, with the latest AFG Mortgage Index figures showing them to be at their lowest level since 2012.
