Saturday, May 23, 2009

Muddled Market

"The Australian Bureau of Statistic's latest report was of a 6.7 per cent national fall in the prices of detached residential dwellings for the year, and a 2.2 per cent fall since the December 2008 quarter.

That contrasts with figures from Australian Property Monitors and RP Data/Rismark International, both of which recently reported slight increases in national housing prices between the December 2008 and March 2009 quarters. Part of the reason is that ABS statistics are only for detached housing, while the other two include units, terraces and semi-detached dwellings.

But the difference really only highlights that statistics shouldn't be taken in isolation when making decisions about buying. Buyers advocate Curtis Associates says the APM and RP data figures are probably closer to what's really happening."

Source: The Australian

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