News

As we all know, real estate is one of those industries that tends to be overflowing with statistics on a variety of topics and from a variety of sources.

Here in Melbourne’s northern corridor, we regularly see people purchasing property with the aim of building something new there. Sometimes it’s a new single dwelling, sometimes it’s two or more homes on the site, even if there was already an existing home on the site at the time of purchase.

With all the talk recently about the tight rental market and the impact of rising rents on the cost of living for many Australians, I thought the latest rental data from Corelogic provided a timely insight into what has been happening around us in 2024.

Let me start this week’s Update by extending my best wishes to all of those readers who may be celebrating Easter this weekend.

There’s been a lot of talk recently, both in the media and around watercoolers all over Melbourne, about the tightening of the rental market in Victoria in the past couple of years.

For those that follow the statistical side of the property market, it’s widely known that there are often “markets within markets” where certain property types or price brackets perform differently to other market segments.

Given the growing focus on potential cuts to official interest rates later this year, in contrast with the steady stream of commentary around interest rate rises that we were seeing at this time last year, it’s probably not surprising that we are seeing increasing signs of consumer confidence in the Melbourne property market in 2024.

In case you haven’t looked around the housing local market recently, competition has resulted in some substantial variations in what is being offered between different lenders at the moment.

Here at Barry Plant Thomastown, our team has the pleasure of assisting first home buyers on a regular basis. This important market segment make up a key element of the buying activity in our part of Melbourne, so it’s no surprise that our team spends a substantial part of each week assisting people to take that first step on their property journey.

There were no surprises this week when the Reserve Bank announced that it was leaving the cash rate on hold at 4.35%. Given that the December quarter inflation figures came in almost half a percentage point below the RBA’s forecasts, this was pretty much a given.

No doubt, a lot of local homeowners in Melbourne’s northern corridor will be taking some time at the moment to ponder what the fresh year may bring.

Given the outstanding sales results that our team at Barry Plant Thomastown were achieving through the latter stages of 2023, it is probably not surprising that we have seen strong activity levels since we reopened the doors after the short break for the festive season.