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House prices fall at fastest rate for 25 years
已经大跌了
Jessica Irvine Economics Writer
May 5, 2009
HOUSE prices are falling at their fastest pace in at least a quarter of a century and there are just half the number of job advertisements as a year ago. But a Reserve Bank board meeting in Sydney today is expected to conclude that another interest rate cut is not needed.
A survey of detached house prices by the Bureau of Statistics released yesterday found prices fell 6.7 per cent across Australia's eight capital cities over the year ended March - the biggest fall in the survey's 23-year history.
Sydney suffered the second largest annual price fall of 7.3 per cent, second only to Perth, where the abrupt end of the commodities boom dragged house values down 10.1 per cent.
The bureau's results jar with two other private sector surveys which had suggested house prices began to plateau earlier this year, supported by the boosted incentives for first-home buyers. By contrast, the bureau's survey suggested house prices sank another 2.2 per cent in the first three months of this year.
It is possible that because the bureau's survey does not include semi-detached homes and apartments, only detached homes, it does not fully capture this first-home buyer effect.
An economist at Commonwealth Bank, James McIntyre, said house prices were likely to remain under pressure this year. "Whilst improved affordability should lead to higher prices over time, in the near-term rising unemployment and battle-scarred household wealth levels weigh on the housing market, particularly at the upper end, which is unlikely to benefit from improved sentiment amongst first-home buyers."
Meanwhile, the task confronting Australia's half a million job seekers gets harder by the day.
The number of job advertisements appearing each week in newspapers and on the internet fell for a 12th consecutive month to 136,770 in April, down from 273,125 at the same time last year.
ANZ's head of Australian economics, Warren Hogan, predicted the jobless rate would climb above 8 per cent next year.
However, most economists expect the Reserve Bank will keep rates on hold when it announces its decision at 2.30pm today amid tentative signs that the pace of decline in the global economy is slowing.
Manufacturing activity in China has begun to expand again, while surveys of US consumer confidence suggest a more cheery mood has begun to prevail. The US sharemarket has regained almost a third of its losses.
Back at home, mortgage rates have already fallen to their lowest since the 1960s, bringing the total monthly saving for a family with a $400,000 variable mortgage to more than $1000 since last August.
In more good news for consumers, it appears price inflation is abating. A survey by TD Securities and the Melbourne Institute found overall prices did not rise last month. Rents fell for a second consecutive month, to be down 3 per cent. "It is clear that there has been a migration out of rental accommodation and into home ownership, especially for first-home buyers," the senior strategist at TD Securities, Annette Beacher, said. |
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楼主: 大杨树
发表于 3-5-2009 09:44:53
推迟一年逼人还钱罢了
楼主
，“它”是说的银行吗，那么，银行要还利息给谁？ 还是说贷款的人？
