塔州房产低迷 去年销售减半

ANNUAL house and unit sales in Hobart have halved over the past decade and real estate agents say there is no sign of improvement in the market.

New figures show the number of sales has dropped consistently each year since 2002, when 7200 homes were sold, to about 3600 last year.

The RPdata.com figures reveal Hobart suffered the biggest decline in home sales of all the capital cities.

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania vice-president Tony Collidge blamed the situation on higher house prices, negative population growth, banks tightening their lending policies and a general lack of confidence in the state.

"These last 12 months for my company have probably been the toughest we've had in almost 20 years," said Mr Collidge, who owns PRDnationwide Realty in Hobart, Montrose and New Norfolk.

"It really is frightening because you can't see what's going to make the market pick up because of the mess that the State Government is in."

He said although house prices had trebled since 2002, it was "basically a buyer's market" because there were more houses for sale than people wanting to buy them.

"The real concern we have at the moment is we're starting to have negative population growth in Tasmania," he said, adding that skilled workers were leaving the state to find jobs elsewhere.

Many would-be sellers were forced to rent out their properties because they could not achieve prices they wanted.

"The number of properties to let has blown out," Mr Collidge said.

He said banks had tightened their lending policies, while mortgage insurers were refusing to provide insurance on high interest loans, particularly in low socio-economic areas.

"Most mortgage insurers won't lend high amounts in the 7030 (postcode) area, which is Brighton, Bridgewater, Gagebrook and the Derwent Valley," Mr Collidge said.

"On top of that, the State Government has just taken away the stamp-duty rebate for the first home buyers grant which was worth about $5000."

RealestateVIEW.com.au says properties stayed on the market for an average of 70 days last year, compared with 56 in 2010. The median house price in Tasmania dropped 2.9 per cent last year.

The website released a survey last week showing fewer Tasmanians would be looking to buy a home this year.

http://www.themercury.com.au/art ... al-estate-news.html