December 11, 2019 by Rebecca Crommelin
We're back with the last edition of Phil's Property Corner for 2019 - brought to you by Phil Bertram from Candour Property Group. In this issue, Phil reviews the latest Perth property & economy figures, as well as some of the latest updates about the First Home Loan Deposit scheme and how one of his clients could benefit from it. Keep scrolling to find out.
Depending on what report you read, Perth’s median price either went up or down in November. We’re sticking with REIWA’s report which showed the median price going down slightly in November to $479,000, with sales activity down 18%. Again, depending on which report you read, median rental prices either stayed steady at $350 per week or increased. REIWA shows the rental median steady at $350 per week with leasing activity down 22% from October. REIWA’s monthly report can be seen here.
You may however have heard that CoreLogic reported November showing an increase in the median house price in Perth. The different numbers being reported often comes about as data collection organisations receive the sale price results at different times to others. CoreLogic showed a 0.4% increase, however also showed a November median house price of $470,000. The recovery is seen to be being led by inner and coastal suburbs of Perth, with buyers keen to take advantage of lower than normal prices. Over the next few months we’ll see whether this is a trend that will gather steam and see the Perth prices start increasing. Most market commentators do agree however that the population increase in Perth continues to increase, this is beginning to absorb some of the oversupply of properties. The ABC has a good article on this inner city suburb trend here.
You may remember from the last Federal Election (it feels like quite a while ago already doesn’t it!), that one of the new schemes put forward as policy was a first home buyer government deposit guarantee. In short, the idea was to assist First Home Buyers to purchase property with only a 5% deposit and not be subjected to Lenders Mortgage Insurance. This would be done by the government offering a guarantee on the difference between the purchasers 5% deposit and the 20% required by banks. The scheme starts on the 1st January 2020 and the first major bank to be given the green light to fund for this program is the National Australia Bank, who have put forward some pretty competitive interest rates in the high 2% range for a 2 year fixed loan. As always, it’s important to understand the detail. Our recommendation is to talk it through with your broker, it’s always much easier to get a balanced opinion from people who have the ability to write finance through any organisation.
We’ve been dealing with a potential first home buyer this month who is looking to build his first home. This client is still saving for the deposit and currently has around 5% deposit for the purchase. Keystart is currently charging in the high 4% range however as of next month, subject to him being approved, there may be an option to get funding for around 2% cheaper than this. This makes a massive difference to repayments and how quickly this client can repay their home loan.
If you’d like to talk through how any of this applies to you the first step is to get in touch with Phil Bertram. There is no obligation to proceed any further than you’re comfortable with and he doesn’t charge for his time. All strategies are implemented in tandem with your Mortgage Choice Mortgage Broker.
To arrange for him to call you please email him with your name and contact number on phil@candourproperty.com.au and he’ll be in touch.
We hope you and your family have a safe and particularly wonderful Christmas and New Years, see you in 2020.
