Hobart Hotspots - 2nd Half 2017

“While other Australia major cities begin to reach and pass their price peaks, Hobart continues to provide an attractive, affordable option that is currently still on its upswing of positive capital growth. The market is a hotspot for many inter-state investors, suggesting local first home buyers need to stake their claim in the market quickly”. 

Tony Brasier (PRD Chairman & Managing Director)

The PRD Hobart hotspots report analyses all suburbs within the Greater Hobart region. It provides valuable insight and highlights for the market, reporting on a number of key indicators to create a holistic picture of the property conditions in 2017. This report focuses on suburbs within a 10km radius of the CBD, taking into consideration the following factors:

• Sales indicators - the number of sales transactions (suburbs with less than 20 sales are excluded in affordable hotspots and top performer selection) and median price growth between 2016 and 2017.
  
• Rental indicators - median rental price, rental yield, and vacancy rates.
  
• Affordability - the average Tasmanian home loan, which indicates the amount that banks are comfortable with in approving for mortgage loans. We add 40% to this amount to indicate the maximum property price. The average Tasmania home loan is $241,379 as at June 2017, which is an increase of 1.3% over the previous quarter.
  
• Projects value - developments scheduled to commence in the 2^nd half 2017, which includes infrastructure, mixed-use, commercial, and residential projects. This is key to maintaining growth as it indicates a potential increase in economic and commercial activity; as well as inter connectivity to key transport routes, the CBD, and other major urban business hubs.
  

As one of the most affordable capital cities, the Hobart property market continues to demonstrate its ever-increasing success with annual growth over 2016-2017 and is set to maintain this trend into 2018. With house and unit prices beginning to hit their strides in their respective upswing stages, and the rental market performing strongly; investors are continuing to find ample opportunities in the market.

The Hobart rental market continues to demonstrate overall growth in median prices over the past 12 months leading to June 2017. Annual change in rental prices is currently the strongest within the Australian market. This is reflected by low overall vacancy rates of 2.0% and impressive annual price change for three bedroom house and two bedroom unit of 5.9% and 10.7% respectively.

Hobart has had a growing number of interstate investors in the marketplace, contributing to increased prices, yet it is still currently one of the most affordable capital cities in Australia.