From our viewpoint as mortgage brokers in Rockingham, the housing market, both locally and nationally, is quite healthy and statistics say that the construction industry has helped it get that way. According to a recent article in Your Investment Property magazine, the building industry is about to break a 20-year record. Over 190,000 homes will have been built for the year, 2014 by the end of December. This breaks the previous record, set in 1994, when builders completed 187,000 new homes.

According to Harley Dale, the Chief Economist for the Housing Industry of Australia (HIA), the current housing cycle is one that is unique in the history of Australia. Mr Dale says that the “look and feel” of the current housing cycle is “different to historical experience” because it has been “slower to gather momentum and breadth.”

Mr Dale would go on to express an opinion that the record amount of new homes built in 2014 has gone a long way towards offsetting a “weak labour market” and “below trend economic growth.” He would also credit the record low interest rates and “high net overseas migration” with helping to drive the construction of new homes.

Mr Dale calls on the Government to reform housing regulations and taxation to help the building industry adequately supply housing for what he calls “our growing and ageing population.”

How This Could Affect You

If Mr Dale is correct, the sustained growth of the number of newly-built homes is dependent upon the government’s willingness to make it easier for consumers to buy those homes through lower taxes and more consumer-friendly regulations. He also sees an economy that is depending upon the continued success of the building industry for its own continued growth.

We think the only thing we can count on is rising prices. We also think every month you delay buying a home costs you money.

To learn more, call Smartline Rockingham: (08) 9527 1800.