Prices Flat As Rental Crisis Set To Worsen
Newcastle Herald
Saturday May 3, 2008
HUNTER property prices are "going nowhere" after merely "limping along" since the 2003-04 boom, a Hunter Region economic update breakfast was told yesterday.
Hunter Valley Research Foundation senior research fellow Simon Deeming also predicted that the region's rental crisis would worsen, with no sign that investors would return to the market over the next year.He also predicted that the next 20 years would prove to be a major struggle for youth trying to get into the market. "We're going nowhere from a housing value perspective and it's been like that for a while," Mr Deeming said."I don't see substantial price growth in the next couple of years. There's nothing that's going to kick off the market in a big way."He said continued interest rate rises had "stomped" on the Hunter's property market, bringing no real change since the end of the boom five years ago. Residential price growth remained dull because of subdued sales volumes, higher interest rates and because markets remained flat in Sydney and on the Central Coast.Mr Deeming said continued rent rises during 2008 and a shortage of new housing would only increase the number of rental households suffering housing stress. Incentives towards superannuation and income returns of only 3 to 4 per cent would continue to drive investors away from the property market in the next year, further affecting supply.As baby boomers reached retirement age, other cities would compete for employees and the talents of ensuing generations.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald