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Jessica Darnbrough
While 2012 was a tough year for the property market, green shoots are emerging.
Speaking to Real Estate Business' sister title, The Adviser, KPMG partner and demographer Bernard Salt said he expects to see a “recovery in house prices” over the coming two years.
Interestingly, Mr Salt said he would attribute the expected growth in property prices to the level of overseas migration.
“If you look at the long-term changes in migration, we seem to be experiencing an upswing at the moment – more people are coming into the country and competing for existing properties, which creates price tension and force prices to rise,” he said.
And Mr Salt is not the only person to predict property price growth in recent times.
Last week, RP Data’s research director, Tim Lawless, told The Adviser that he expects to see full recovery in house prices this year after they found the floor in the last quarter of 2012.
Statistics from RP Data show property prices fell 1.2 per cent across the nation in December 2012.
Thankfully, this downward trend was reversed in January, with data showing a 1.2 per cent increase in house prices that month.
“This data is a positive sign for the Australian property market,” Mr Lawless said.
“I think it is safe to say the property market is now on the path to recovery and, by the end of 2013, I think we should start to see values return to their 2010 highs.
“While that does not mean we will see any strong growth conditions, especially from a broader perspective, we do expect to see the housing market, which is about 4.5 per cent lower than when it peaked in 2010, to reach those previous highs.”
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