Saturday, July 25, 2009

It Seems that St George Doesn't Want Prices to Fall

This is what St George Bank (part of Westpac) says about housing prices..
"There are a number of key reasons why we are optimistic on house prices. These include low mortgage rates, the first-home buyers’ grant, relatively low vacancy rates and the sharp improvement in housing affordability. But there are also the important demographic fundamentals that should facilitate a lift in house prices over the medium term. These demographics include strong population growth. Population growth has accelerated to be at its highest level in 40 years. It is running at this pace at a time when there’s a national shortage of housing and when increasing housing construction is being restrained by difficulty in accessing funding and uncertainty about the economic and financial outlook. This shortage is set to get bigger over the next few years. This imbalance between demand and supply means prices should stabilise later this year and early next year, before price pressures emerge and gradually intensify over the next few years. In the short term, further falls in house prices are still likely. Most recent house price measures are still showing declines. These are most pronounced at the top end of the market."

Short term fall, long term rise.

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