OzFree Online Real Estate

The Australian reported that the Investors Club declared that Western Australia would feel the pinch most because the average first-home loan had soared by $41,000 in 12 months. A property investment group has advised young people will be hit hard by rising interest rates and that real estate agents listed auctions in record numbers to attract buyers on the last weekend of the boosted first-home owner’s grant.

Investors Club reported that loans went up by an average of $22,000 in South Australia, $21,000 in Victoria and Tasmania, $18,000 in NSW and $12,000 in Queensland. From Thursday, the first-home grant will be cut from $14,000 to $10,500 for existing homes and from $21,000 to $14,000 for new homes, before being scaled back to $7000 next year.

“People have taken advantage of the first-home buyers grant and rushed in to buy properties because they got the deduction on stamp duty and they got the government subsidy,” said by the club’s acting president, Richard Van Proctor

“But as interest rates rise, the average person with their first-home loan is going to struggle.” He added.

Melbourne took a weekend off from its traditional spring selling season, with most Melburnians staying home to watch football.

Robert Larocca of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria said the 96 auctions — compared with 894 the previous weekend — were good for a grand final weekend. “We’ve recovered a lot of the ground that we’ve lost over the past year.”
Melbourne’s clearance rate was 77.8 per cent, down slightly from 79.5 per cent the previous weekend. This time last year, only 56.5 per cent of properties cleared auction.