Mairead

Hi All,

Just wondered what your thoughts are on the property market, Melbourne in particular. I have read allot of articles however one may say the property is on a downward trend and the other will have a conflicting report. Hopefully once we sell this place we will have enough bucks in our pocket to have a relatively small mortgage in Australia. Now when I say small I mean small in Irish terms!! With the high interest rates in Australia at the moment its very hard to say that a mortgage will be small. We have already been in contact with a number of builders and our plan was to find land ASAP however Im wondering now should we hold tight and wait to see what happens. With the money in the bank earning interest it would easily pay for rented accommodation.

Thoughts would be appreciated.

hereshoping

Market in Melbourne seems to have grown about 20% in the past 12 months and is showing no signs of slowing as far as I can tell (and I have been watching v closely and reading up on this a lot)

In some areas of Oz there is a downturn, but Melbourne is not affected as there is still a v high demand for property from people like us!

stuckinblighty

bloody immigrants forcing up prices...its costing me a ****** fortune

CynOpt

The thing to watch is this coming weekends auctions.
The last 3 weeks , the auction clearance rates have dropped off sharply.

Last weekend was a holiday weekend, so there were only 400 houses up, but rate was still low.
They are expected 1400 houses up for auction the coming weekend, the clearance rate is being watched like a hawk for an indication of the effect the repeated interest rises is having on the market.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...998282272.html

@boy

The answer to your question depends entirely on where you intend to buy in Melbourne ?
If you can provide an idea of what suburbs you are contemplating, we can give you some good observations from living here.

Mairead

Thanks for the replys guys!!

Honestly boy at the moment we are still open to suggestions. I have researched lots of areas but I have not been in Melbourne before so its hard to judge. I like the look of point cook, sanctuary lakes and Tarneit however if I had a choice at the moment my two favs would be Eltham and Diamond creek.

@boy

Zoikes ! That covers pretty much West to East.
Eltham is a beautiful spot and not much farther out the road from us in Rosanna.
No signs of a downward property trend there though, nor in Diamond Creek (even though it is a fair bit farther out). We have friends in both suburbs.

Certainly a lot less painful on the pocket by looking at something in Tarneit/Pt. Cook/Sanct Lakes, but it depends on what you are looking for in an area ?

It is difficult trying to make an assessment if you have not lived here. We were in the same boat in '02 and opted to rent for 2 years much closer to town, giving us a chance to build up a network of friends all over the greater Melbourne area, in turn getting to visit where they all lived on a first hand basis. This then eventually fed into our buying decision.

Good luck with the hunt !

Mairead

Some great advice there. Thanks a million.

hereshoping

that articel is reasuring, Hopefully the market will do a similar thing to that in the UK and it will become a buyers market...

We're looking around Prahran, Richmond, Fitzroy etc... kinda popular areas I think. Of course we won't really know until we get out there, finally, and see the areas for ourself. Got a 'short' list of about 15 areas

busterboy

Current 'real not estimated' range for property prices in Eltham are around
$375/450k for a stylish unit and around $500-680k for nice traditional Eltham style family home on good sized plot. You could certainly have options within this price range. Eltham property can go to the $mill... but not much of us are in that range.

Please buyers beware that Eltham uses a lot of auctions and Estimate Selling Rangers that are nearly always sold towards the top end of the range. ie ESR $550-$620k expect offers to be entertained within the 590k to 620k space. Auctions also go towards the end of the range.

@boy

Hot off the presses...

Auctions steady but ASX tipped for fall
http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...472163990.html

MELBOURNE'S auction market passed its first big test of the year yesterday just as the US economy hit more trouble.
Melbourne's clearance rate held steady at 67%, the same as last weekend.
The result came despite a record-breaking increase in stock — a massive 1221 homes were auctioned, more than double the number at the same time last year.

hereshoping

Property Snapshot- 15th March 2008- Melbourne
Total properties:994
Sold:681
Withdrawn:4
% Cleared:68%

Total sales:$375,503,264
Median:$517,500

Doesn't seem too bad, from a buyers point of view I mean.

Irish Gal

Thanks hereshoping - you're right. This doesn't seem too bad!
Let's hope the market stabilises somewhat soon
Irish Gal