Mona Vale Blog

Not even the prospect of a Federal Election could stall Australia's favourite asset class, with property values reaching new record highs and buyer demand holding steady.

According to the April CoreLogic Home Value Index, Australian property values rose by 0.4% in March, lifting the national median price to a new record of $820,331. This marks the second consecutive month of growth, following a brief three-month dip earlier in the year.

The growth was broad-based, with every mainland capital city and each rest-of-state region recording positive gains. Among the capitals, Darwin led the way with a 1.0% increase, followed by Adelaide at 0.8%, and a rebounding Melbourne at 0.5%.

Supporting this renewed market strength, new figures from Raine & Horne reveal that open-for-inspection (OFI) attendance rose by almost 3% year-on-year nationally in March. Meanwhile, on the supply side, listings and appraisals were down approximately 9% year-on-year nationally. While partly seasonal, this reduced supply also means less competition for motivated vendors looking to sell during late autumn and early winter.

In one of our recent blogs, "Can a HECS debt impact home-buying plans?", we explored how student loans can influence borrowing power. Before the election, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers urged banking regulator APRA to relax lending rules, aiming to make it easier for Australians with outstanding HECS-HELP debts to qualify for a mortgage. This potential change could affect up to 3 million Australians currently holding student loans. Now that the election is behind us, it will be important to watch this space for updates.