Over $150 billion of property has been settled across the east coast of Australia this year, amidst growing speculation of imminent market softening, latest analysis from PEXA Insights showed.
According to PEXA’s Property Insights quarterly report, property sale settlements across both the east-coast and west-coast of Australia from January to March were at similar levels to the record-breaking numbers seen for the same period in 2021, with metropolitan areas strongly outperforming regional areas in all east coast states.
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia all recorded at least 20% growth in aggregate value when compared to the first quarter of 2021. Given settlement volumes have remained consistent, PEXA’s findings highlight the growth in property prices throughout 2021.
Continuing to lead the nation in terms of aggregate value for settlements was NSW with $62.3 billion from 48,100 settled sales. When it comes to volume, Queensland remained the leader for three successive quarters with 51,458 sale settlements, valued at approximately $39 billion. Victoria experienced the highest year-on-year growth in aggregate sale settlement value at 36%, recording $50.9 billion from 50,702 sales settled. WA, meanwhile, saw a resurgence at the start of 2022 with 2.5% growth for the quarter when compared to the same period in 2021.
“One of the more interesting trends we have seen in the latest quarter is a return to capital cities,” said Mike Gill, PEXA Insights’ head of research. “Throughout the COVID pandemic, regional areas boomed; however, with restrictions significantly relaxed, it appears Australian homebuyers have refocused on the metropolitan regions in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Scott Butterworth, PEXA’s chief data and analytics officer, said that despite the Australia’s property market’s continuing resilience, many variables are yet to play out in 2022.
“A level of uncertainty remains across global markets with new variants of COVID emerging, the Russian invasion continuing, and rising interest rates,” Butterworth said. “The PEXA Insights team will continue to closely monitor the impact of these issues on the Australian property, most notably the imminent rise in the Australian cash rate as speculated by many of the nation’s leading economists.”
