Homebuyers’ $6bn surge
Property records tumble as Tassie market goes gangbusters
TASMANIA’S remarkable Covid-defying property market has reached new heights and again broken records.
New figures from the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania reveal that an eye-watering $4.46bn of property was sold in the first nine months of this year.
For the cumulative value of property sales, that figure has set a new benchmark and eclipsed the state’s highest annual totals.
In 2017, Tassie’s housing market recorded $3.87bn in sales followed by $4.06bn in 2018 and $4.1bn in 2019. Last year, a record was set at $4.39bn.
The REIT says Tasmania is on target to exceed $6bn by this year’s end, which would be an increase of 36.5 per cent over 2020’s record total.
In the three months through September, Tasmania recorded 2961 sales worth $1.55bn.
REIT stats show it took Tasmania a full year in 2001 and 2002 to record a similar total value of sales than was just tallied in the September quarter alone.
REIT president Michael Walsh said a result such as $4.46bn in sales comes with as many questions as answers.
“You have to wonder where the market goes from here,” Mr Walsh said. “Will it settle into this sort of rhythm or stabilise to some point? Does it roll back a bit? It’s unknown.
“Unless there is something in the broader world that will significantly effect real estate, it’s hard to see any end in sight to our market’s current momentum,” he said.
Mr Walsh said any notion that the Tasmanian market was driven by interstate buyers had been incorrect throughout the pandemic.
“It’s an easy go-to for some, but in reality it has been grassroots Tasmanian buyers pushing our market to new levels,” he said.
In the quarter, interstate purchasers bought 584 homes with about two-thirds moving to Tasmania to live.
First-time homebuyers accounted for 438 September sales.
Median house prices reached new highs in Hobart ($710,000), Launceston ($530,000) and the North West centres ($397,500).
At the market’s top end, there were 195 $1m-plus sales in September, which is more than most calendar years on record, except for 2020 (256 sales).
Sandy Bay recorded September’s most expensive median house price at $1.5m across 27 sales.
This result was 44.6 per cent higher compared annually.
South Hobart, West Hobart, Taroona and Mount Stuart recorded medians between $1.045m and $1.227m, while Hobart city was knocking at the door with a $995,000 median value.
On the West Coast, Rosebery’s median of $135,000 grew by 36.4 per cent annually, while Queenstown $195,000 zoomed 89.3 per cent higher.
Rental vacancy remained tight statewide, ranging from 1 per cent in Hobart to 1.2 per cent in the North West and 0.8 per cent in Launceston.