Tasmania’s housing challenge is not something that can be fixed overnight, and booming property values should not come as a surprise.
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That’s according to Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Tony Collidge, who said the results of the recently released CoreLogic report confirmed his long-held suspicions of the property market.
Mr Collidge said Tasmania’s market was made up of 70 per cent owner-occupiers and 30 per cent investors, which was in stark contrast to the mainland Sydney and Melbourne markets.
He said our strong economy and increase in the job market meant more people were choosing to stay in Tasmania and people from the mainland were looking to move to the island state.
“We can’t build houses quick enough to meet the demand,” he said.
Launceston recorded the strongest growth for property prices in a regional area across the country, according to the CoreLogic report, with a more than 11 per cent spike.
Hobart’s housing woes were also reconfirmed in the report, with the city topping the country for capital cities.
Mr Collidge said he was not surprised by the CoreLogic report results, and it fell in line with his understanding of the market from speaking to real estate agents in those areas.
However, he said Tasmanians should not be concerned that real estate pressures that have occurred in Sydney and Melbourne would happen here.
Changes to investor regulations coupled with changes to foreign ownership in China, a key investor market for Australia, meant the property market in Sydney and Melbourne had shifted from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market.
There are now more properties for sale than there are buyers – but Mr Collidge said the opposite was true for Tasmania.
He said while there were challenges to meet the growing demand in Tasmania, he believed the state government was tackling the issue head-on.
There are a number of measure in place as part of the government’s 10-year affordable housing strategy.
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