{"id":24958,"date":"2020-04-29T10:42:37","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T22:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/?p=24958"},"modified":"2020-04-29T10:43:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T22:43:09","slug":"renters-bail-out-and-sales-plummet-as-coronavirus-hits-property-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/renters-bail-out-and-sales-plummet-as-coronavirus-hits-property-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Renters bail out and sales plummet as coronavirus hits property market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHOTO: Renters bailing out, landlords offering free rent, sales values dropping \u2013 Covid-19 has had dire effects on the housing market, but it looks as though it could be about to turn around.\u00a0Photograph: James Ross\/AAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coronavirus crisis is having a devastating impact on the Australian property market, with sales down by hundreds of millions of dollars and tenants handing back the keys because they can no longer afford their rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales values have dropped 85% in Melbourne in the past eight weeks, according to figures released on Tuesday, equating to a loss of $584m compared with the same period last year. In Sydney, sales were down 79% (a loss of $454m), a data dashboard compiled by FrontierSI\/UNSW showed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westpac gave a gloomy outlook on Tuesday when it announced a $1.6bn hit to its balance sheet from the virus as customers struggled to meet their loan repayments. It followed NAB\u2019s worst-case prediction of a 32% fall in prices in the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Richard<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mortgage Broker \u2013 Richard Pusey\u2019s mother calls radio station to DISOWN her son<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Frontier\/UNSW figures, which are derived from publicly available sources such as Domain and realestate.com, chime with a similarly drastic picture in the big city rental market as coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the economy.NSW rent relief laws must address power imbalance between owners and tenants, union saysRead more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across all capital cities rental asking prices fell 3.1% in the past week and 2.5% in the past month,\u00a0according to SQM research<\/a>. In Sydney rents were off 3.8% in the past week and 5.2% in the past month, while Melbourne was down 2.5% and 2.6% respectively. But they mask huge falls in the plusher areas such as Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs, where house rents are down 10%, and the CBD, where they are off by 17%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE VIA THE GUARDIAN<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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