Tasmanian house prices still falling: REIT

The Tasmanian housing market continues to struggle, with house prices falling throughout most of the Apple Isle.

While Hobart showed a modest increase of 1.6% in sales in the year to March 2012, its median house price was down 2.3% to $353,000, according to figures released by the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania (REIT).

Across Tasmania house prices dropped by 3.2% on the same time last year to a median of $300,000, the report says.

The figures reveal that people are not in trading mode as the number of sales has fallen dramatically. Only 1,252 houses sold in the 12 months to March this year – down 12.3% on the previous year.

It is not just the mums and dads that are staying home. Millionaires are avoiding residential deals, with a luxury $2.45 million Battery Point penthouse overlooking Hobart’s beautiful harbour languishing on the market for close to 200 days. It had been bought in 2006 for $1.8 million.

Battery Point has the highest median house price of $925,000 from eight sales, showing a rise of 17.8% in the year to March. Bridgewater, about 20 kilometers from Hobart in the state’s south east, was Tasmania’s least expensive spot, with a median price of $175,000 from eight sales, showing an increase of 2.9%.

According to the REIT report it takes an average of 79 days to sell a Tasmanian house.

“The report wasn’t all doom and gloom though, with 11 municipalities reporting an increase in their median house price for the quarter, with six currently holding a higher median house price than the statewide figure. These included Clarence, Glamorgan/Spring Bay, Hobart, Kingborough, Sorell and the West Tamar,” says REIT president Adrian Kelly.

The rental vacancy rate also continued to increase in the March quarter, up 0.8% to 3.9%.