Land Sales Tipped to Improve in Some Australian Cities

In the midst of doom and gloom on the share market and some property markets a leading Australian economic forecaster is predicting the slump in land sales will soon end in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

In their latest capital report on the outlook for residential land sales, BIS Shrapnel tipped that next financial year would be the turning point for land sales in several capital cities. For Perth BIS Sharpnel predicts:

After a decline of 22% in the 2 years 2007-08 residential lot production in Perth would ramp up from 10,300 blocks in 2008-09 to a peak of 13,200 in 2011-12.

Buyers are expected to retun to the market with house and land packages increasingly more affordable. Not that the price of new homes are expected to come down any time soon, more the expected interest rate cuts will make borrowing more affordable.

This forecast for recovery of the Perth property market within the next year has been made by a number of local property experts. Industry insiders expect that the record population growth enjoyed by Western Australian has got, eventually to flow through to the property market. The Real Estate Institute of WA has predicted that house prices will begin to increase again at a rate of about 5% a year form the end of 2009. \

The current financial crises in the US adds a new dimension though: with smaller mining and exploration companies, in particular, finding it difficult to raise share market funds while investors remain jittery. I wouldn’t be investing in holiday homes or other luxury real estate any time soon: but it does seem reasonable that that the average family home or rental is probably a good investment in states such as WA and Queensland which are enjoying strong population growth and excellent employment rates.  First home buyers could be looking at their best opportunity to buy in major Australian cities  that they have had for some years.

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