Property crashes as first-quarter home sales, prices and clearances slump
Sanna Trad | April 14, 2009 Article from: The Australian
HOME prices have crashed across the country, with the number of properties sold at auction falling dramatically in the first three months of the year.
The Australian Property Monitors group says Sydney and Perth showed the sharpest falls, with average prices dropping by more than $150,000.
The average price for all properties sold at auction in Sydney over the first quarter was $616,237, compared with $786,682 in January to March last year.
Only 1742 properties were sold in the first quarter compared with 2230 over the same period last year.
Property experts blame the fall on the fact investors are deserting the market. The top end of the market has been labelled as "dead".
APM head of research Yvonne Chan said yesterday the property market was in desperate need of new investors.
The first-home buyer's grant -- which is worth $21,000 for new homes and $14,000 for existing ones -- is due to expire on June 30, when it is expected to revert to $7000.
Ms Chan said the most expensive sector of the market was dead. "In terms of auctions, there really was nothing going on at the top end."
In Melbourne, the median property auction price fell to $476,677, compared with $513,304 last year.
Auction sales were badly down in Melbourne -- only 2251 homes sold compared with 3211 in the same period last year.
In the private sale-dominated markets of Brisbane and Adelaide, the number of properties up for auction in the first quarter has been well down on the same period last year.
In Adelaide, only 123 properties sold in the first three months of the year compared with 598 at the same time last year. The median sale price fell by $80,000 to $372,000.
In Brisbane, 195 properties sold at auction from January to March, compared with 350 in 2008. The median auction price fell from $596,571 to $439,487.
And after a dismal 2008, the Perth property market continues to struggle. Only 34 properties sold at auction over the first three months of this year, at an average of $372,000 -- down almost $200,000 on last year's average of $556,000.