KPMG partner and demographer Bernard Salt says the doubling of the rate will underpin the upswing in property. “We have built a property industry in this nation predicated on 220,000 people per year, give or take, for 60 years. Over the last five years, that jumped to double that rate,” he says.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t double the rate of the population into this nation in five years and not have a profound impact on the demand for property.”
Salt’s statistics show the nation’s population growing to around 416,000 people per annum.
“The rate of growth in this decade is twice the rate of growth over the previous 60 years.”
He’s also particularly bullish about Queensland’s real estate potential.
“I think there are strong demographic reasons why you should be in property over the next 12 months in this state.”
He notes Queensland property has been dealing with negative impacts over the past two years and the GFC, the 2011 floods, north Queensland cyclones and the rise of the Australian dollar had all taken their toll on the market. However, Salt believes it has now turned a corner.
“This is an ascendant market,” he says.
“Interest rates are low, the dollar has dropped and there’s been an absence of two or three years of natural disasters. We’ve taken the hits in terms of property sector cutbacks and you have, today, all of that behind and you’ve got these demographic drivers pushing in an upwards direction.”
Salt also points out there’s growing interest in Brisbane from overseas immigrants.
“It’s (Brisbane) emerging as a market competitive to Melbourne and Sydney as a destination for overseas people coming into Australia.”
This positive outlook is supported by data released by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).
The institute’s December quarter median house price report found the volume of house sales hit their annual peak of activity in the last three months of 2013.
REIQ chief executive officer Anton Kadesh says their data indicates the southeast Queensland market is gaining traction.
“The September quarter, or spring selling season, historically records the high numbers of sales. Last year, however, the December quarter trumped it with the preliminary numbers of house sales peaking at just shy of 10,000 for that three month period,” he says.
The REIQ’s most recent data shows the average time it takes to sell a home in Brisbane has reduced to 74 days, with average discounting from list prices sitting at about six per cent.
Submitted by Chris Snell, Property Manager, Rental Success Blog. Article written and posted on Wednesday, February 26 2014 at 3:25 PM by Australian Property Investor Magazine
