State’s property market booming on the heels of strong sales numbers

THE strongest sales quarter in years has placed Tasmania’s real estate market among the nation’s best.

The number of house sales in Hobart has hit the highest level in five years, a new report shows.

THE strongest sales quarter in years has placed Tasmania’s real estate market among the nation’s best, a national property report says.

While property markets in Australia’s two biggest cities were waning, Hobart was rising, said the latest Price Predictor Index from Hotspotting.

Hobart and Launceston have shown consistent upward momentum with each named among its national five best “five-star growth markets”.

Hotspotting director Terry Ryder.

In Hobart the positive sales activity trend started last year, was maintained through the 2016 March quarter and rose further in the June quarter, which was the capital city’s strongest quarter of sales “for at least five years”.

The Price Predictor Index tracks housing sales volume rather than the industry’s standard measurement of median price changes.

Hotspotting director Terry Ryder said consistent increased sales activity was a better indicator of future price growth than other measures.

Five of his report’s top 30 suburbs and towns with rising property markets came from Tasmania: Devonport, Glenorchy, Kingston, New Town and Newstead.

“Hobart is doing well, the Tasmanian economy has improved – it has still got a way to go – but it is definitely better than it was,” he said.

“Investors are looking at Hobart and noticing it has got the cheapest prices, the lowest rental vacancies and the highest rental yields among the capital cities.

“Rental yields in Tasmania are strong, especially compared to Melbourne and Sydney where a typical yield for a house is below 3 per cent now, which is very unattractive.”

Mr Ryder said before the economic upturn in 2012-13, Tasmania was selling 2000-2400 homes each quarter but the state was now consistently recording 2600-2800 each quarter.

Houses in the suburb of Hobart had a median price of $600,000 over the past 12 months, up 20 per cent on three years ago.

In Launceston, house sales volume was up by about 12 per cent over the past year.

The West Coast was named among the report’s “dirty dozen” areas for investors to avoid.

Originally published as State’s property market booming on the heels of strong sales numbers