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The
Westpac-Melbourne Institute’s Consumer Sentiment Index was released
this week and it showed a fall in consumer confidence of -7.0%
during May 2010. The Index now sits at 108.0 points suggesting that
consumers have become less confident in domestic economic
conditions over the last month. This is likely to be the result of
a volatile share market, economic instability in Europe and higher
interest rates. Whilst this month’s result is the weakest since
June 2009, the Index remains well above 100 points which is the
point where optimists and pessimists are evenly balanced. A subset
of the Index, the ‘Time to Buy a Dwelling Index’ recorded a fall of
-15.4% from 104.3 points last month to 88.2 points indicating that
a majority of people surveyed believe the optimal time to purchase
a home may have passed following the strong capital gains in home
values over the last year and interest rate hikes.
The Reserve Bank’s Head of Financial Stability, Luci Ellis, gave a
very interesting speech this week at the Australian Financial
Review’s Residential Property Conference. The speech is available here.
Luci’s final comments summed the presentation quite succinctly:
“Housing prices have been under upward pressure in Australia. It
would be helpful if more of that demand could be accommodated with
extra homes for occupation, instead of by higher prices. Every
cycle starts with something real, something fundamental. Recent
data suggest that we do not have a credit-fuelled speculative boom
on our hands. It would not be desirable for the current situation
to turn into one.”
Advertised
Stock on the Market
 Both the number of new properties entering
the market and the total number of properties available for sale
has fallen below the level from the same time last year however,
both remain well above 12 month average levels.
Want to know what is happening in your local patch? Make sure
you have subscribed to RP Data's On the Market® service. Click
here or phone 1300 734 318 for a free 2 week trial.
Latest National Auction
Clearance Rates
 Auction clearance rates
were again much weaker last week than they have been through much
of 2010, although there was a slight improvement on the previous
week. Across the county the weighted average clearance rate was
recorded at 64.6%. Melbourne's clearance rate weakened to 73.5%,
one of its softest results this year. Meanwhile, Sydney’s clearance
rate improved to 65.5%.
Want to know the auction results for your local area? Log into rpdata.com and go
the Auction Results panel on the top right corner of the home page.
Number of Properties
Advertised for Rent
 Across the nation the total number of new rental
listings has increased for the second consecutive week however, new
listings remain slightly below levels from one month previous.
Total rental listings have also increased for the second
consecutive week and are at a level slightly above that recorded
one month ago.
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