re: house prices in sydney to trouble Warnie.........do you...

re: house prices in sydney to trouble





Warnie.........do you agree with this prediction.......



Average Perth house to cost $1million in 10 years





HIGH PRICE: The average Perth house is predicted to hit $1million. Picture: Alf Sorbello Source: PerthNow

THEY are figures that will stun most West Australians - homes in almost all suburbs worth more than an average of $1 million and, in Peppermint Grove, a staggering $25 million.

But if the real estate boom of the past 10 years is repeated over the next decade, these prices will be the scary reality, according to new figures calculated by one of Australia's top property price-monitoring companies.

The price predictions, compiled exclusively for The Sunday Times by Australian Property Monitors, indicate only a handful of suburbs in the Perth metropolitan area will have a median house price below $1 million in the next decade, and many suburbs will hit the $1 million mark within five years.

WA's house values could be the highest in the country, and Peppermint Grove would be clearly Australia's most expensive suburb with a median house price of more than $25 million in 10 years.


Real Estate Institute of WA president Alan Bourke said a Perth median house price of $1 million was inevitable.

"It will happen, it's just a matter of time, whether it's in 10 years or 12 years," Mr Bourke said.

APM economist Matt Bell said the long-term outlook for WA property prices was the best of all the major states because of the likely long-term resource boom, driven by Chinese and Asian demand for commodities.

While the prospect of property values doubling in the next 10 years will bring a smile to the faces of today's home owners and investors, it poses further affordability issues for those yet to step onto the property ladder.

WA Council Of Social Services chief executive Sue Ash said it was critical that housing was both affordable to buy and affordable to live in to prevent an increase in homelessness.

"We are more worried about the incline in house prices than the actual final number because it's the incline in house prices that is causing the difficulties for those people who are in the lower incomes and particularly for those people on fixed incomes," she said.

Stockland managing director Matthew Quinn echoed these sentiments in a recent speech.

"The average first-home buyer today cannot afford to pay the median house price - not even close," he said.

Mr Quinn blamed "a total disconnect between the different levels of government . . . without action, housing affordability problems are going to get worse."

He said building smaller homes could ease the shortage and the affordability issue. Stockland was reducing its average lot and house sizes for customers.

"Australia is one of the world's most urbanised nations, with over three-quarters of our population living in major cities and the overwhelming majority in our five largest cities alone," he said.

Mr Bourke said the State Government needed to take a tougher approach to high-density housing if it was to solve future housing affordability problems.

"The various industry bodies know what to do, it's just the government of the day deciding yes, it will solve the problem, it will make the decisions that are going to be unpalatable for some of the shires and some of the levels of bureaucracy - it's just a matter of whether the government has got the courage to solve the issue," he said.

"Doubling the density would solve the problem in a heartbeat. (The government) needs to take a tougher approach to high-density planning."

Adding to housing affordability problems, a report by the Housing Industry Association reveals Perth's growth areas are falling behind demand.

The report into WA housing needs showed a shortfall of 17,400 houses last year. The shortage is expected to be more than 70,000 this decade.

WA Planning Minister John Day told The Sunday Times lot production had slowed during the past 18 months as a result of the economic downturn and develop finance being harder to obtain. But he expected the rate of production to increase again.

"There are about 37,000 vacant residential lots, with construction of homes thought to be under way on about half of these," Mr Day said.

"There is currently a stock of 18,500ha of urban-zoned land, which is yet to be developed.

"Assuming historical consumption trends in urbanisation, the current stock of undeveloped urban-zoned land will meet demand for about 22 years."