New home sales outstrip national trend

Sales of new homes may have faltered across the country in November, but Victoria held its own and managed to buck the national trend. The latest New Home Sales Report from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) revealed a 2.7 per cent drop in sales throughout Australia.

Nevertheless, Gil King, the HIA's executive director in Victoria, revealed that detached house sales were up 3.3 per cent in the state. This helped reverse some of the 9.3 per cent decline experienced during the previous month.

Mr King commented: "During the past 12 months, both approvals and sales activity have been tracking roughly sideways at a healthy level."

He indicated that the challenge now will be to see whether this momentum can be maintained for the next 12 months. There are various headwinds facing the industry, including falls in property prices and tighter lending conditions, Mr King confirmed.

These views have to some extent been confirmed by the CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index for December 2015. The results showed that Melbourne home values were down 1.9 per cent from the previous three-month period, but nevertheless up 11.2 per cent over the past year.

Melbourne's median dwelling price registered at $610,000, offering gross returns of 14.8 per cent – the second-highest result in the country. If you're yet to invest in real estate in Brunswick, then now could be a good time to do so.

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The team at Ray White Brunswick appreciates that it's not always easy to find the ideal home, which is why we're on hand to help. Our unrivalled knowledge of the local area could mean you're moving into your dream real estate in Brunswick sooner than you thought.

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