REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that “Over the last six months all the factors that are required for a strong property market were present in Melbourne. This has resulted in suburbs right across the price ranges experiencing strong demand and significant increases in price.
“The Victorian economy is performing well, population is growing and there is good confidence about the future, factors which will ensure the 2010 property market commences on a solid base.
“Strong demand has been recorded in both affordable and expensive suburbs, ensuring that many vendors have achieved very good results, a trend that the REIV expects to see continue in 2010 due to population growth and the constraints on supply.
“Financial assistance for first home buyers of established homes will drop by $3,500 on December 31; however, unlike interest rate increases, this will not have a significant impact on demand due to the overall strength of the market and the fact the assistance is not totally disappearing,” Mr Raimondo concluded.
2009 Property market key statistics
– 22,586 auctions held; 81 per cent clearance rate, compared to 63 per cent in 2008.
– 18,364 sold at auction – totaling $12.1 billion.
– 20 per cent more homes sold than in 2008, but still 10 per cent less than in 2007.
– A peak clearance rate of 87 per cent reached on the 27–28 June.
– The greatest number of homes sold at auction on one weekend was 867, on 12–13 December.
– Rental vacancy rate for Melbourne between 1.2 and 1.5 per cent over the year.
– REIV.com.au