RP Data‘s latest market wrap came out on Friday. It’s Sunday, so you’re on your own with it.
RP Data, along with Rismark International, launched two world firsts this week: the first daily ‘real time’ index tracking changes in housing values and the first housing market index that tracks the performance of the entire ‘portfolio’ of properties in the market, not just those properties that have transacted. The new methodology, which has been designed as a tradable index, is a big leap forward in sophistication, accuracy and timeliness. The Index results, which were released on March 1, showed that home values across the combined capital cities increased by 0.8% in February 2012, fell by -0.2% over the three months to February and over the past 12 months they have fallen by -4.4%. More information about our improved housing market measurements are available at www.rpdata.com.
Private sector housing credit figures for January 2012 released by the Reserve Bank (RBA) this week showed that outstanding credit rose by 0.5% over the month but on an annual basis grew by just 5.3% which is the slowest rate of growth on record. Over the year, investor housing credit grew by just 4.7% while owner occupier credit grew at a higher but still historically low rate of 5.7%. The ongoing slowdown in private sector housing credit is commensurate with the broader conservative nature of consumers and correlates to the ongoing annual falls in home values.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released retail trade data for January 2012. The results highlighted benign growth in retail trade which increased by 0.3% over the month and by just 2.7% over the past 12 months. The results along with the previously mentioned private sector housing credit figures highlight that consumers continue to be more focused on paying down debt and saving their money rather than spending.
Latest National Auction Clearance Rates
The percentage of cleared auctions last week (54%) was the highest result since March last year. The improved clearance rate was on the back of 1,733 auctions, the largest number of auctions held over a week so far this year. The largest auction market in the country, Melbourne, recorded a clearance rate of 60.6%, which is also the strongest result since March last year. Sydney also saw clearance rates above 50% while all other cities saw more than half the auctions taken to market unsuccessful at auction.
Advertised Stock on the Market
The number of newly advertised properties for sale increased again last week, the sixth consecutive week they have done so. Although new listings continue to climb to higher levels, the number of homes being added to the market remain at lower levels than the same period last year (-8.3% lower nationally and -14.0% lower in capital cities). RP Data is currently tracking 307,982 properties for sale across the country and 147,000 properties across the capital cities. Capital city markets currently account for just 47.7% of all listings nationally despite being home to more than 60% of the population. Throughout Australia, total listings are currently 25.6% higher than they were at the same time last year and 20.8% higher across the capital cities. The worrying sign for the marketplace is that the total number of properties advertised for sale continues to rise and they are currently 7.5% higher than the 12 month average nationally and 5.5% higher across the combined capitals. The large number of properties available for sale will continue to be one of the primary barriers to capital growth until we see some this stock absorbed by the market.
Number of Properties Advertised for Rent
The number of newly advertised properties for rent increased over the past week across both the national and capital city markets. The number of new properties listed for rent is 24.9% higher than at the same time last year nationally and 22.3% higher across the combined capital cities. RP Data is currently tracking a total of 96,670 properties advertised for rent across the nation and 64,260 properties across the combined capital cities. The total number of properties listed for rent increased last week nationally and fell across the capital cities however, they are 7.1% higher than at the same time last year nationally and 6.7% higher across the combined capital cities.
That, however, isn’t their final words on renting. According to RPData renters are feeling the pinch as weekly rents outpace home values.
Rental rates across the combined capital cities in 2011 grew by 6.3% compared to a fall in home values of -3.6%. The superior growth performance of rents compared to values has been a consistent trend over the past five years.
Read the rest of that article here, including this interesting tidbit:
Over 2012, RP Data expects that growth in rental rates will continue to outpace the growth in home values. The reason being that we are not anticipating any ‘real’ growth in home values.
Finally, if you are in any way interested in RPData’s new daily index, I recommend you check out this article by Cameron Kusher on RPData’s research blog.
