Invest
Unit oversupply fears may be overblown
While there has been ongoing anxiety surrounding the potential for oversupply in Australia’s major capital cities, these may have been exaggerated, according to a property research house.
Unit oversupply fears may be overblown
While there has been ongoing anxiety surrounding the potential for oversupply in Australia’s major capital cities, these may have been exaggerated, according to a property research house.
CoreLogic head of research Cameron Kusher says Sydney is the least at risk of oversupply due to ongoing overall housing undersupply.
“At the moment, I wouldn’t say it's too much of an issue in Sydney particularly and the reason for that is you’re not seeing an underperformance of units relative to houses,” Mr Kusher told Nest Egg.
“[With] the price point you’re looking at for houses now, units have kind of become the only option for people looking for people to buy into the market.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne’s growing housing stock will likely face a mixed bag of factors.
“We’re obviously seeing a really high level of unit supply coming online in Melbourne but we’re also seeing really strong population growth so when you compare the two, perhaps there’s not as much of an oversupply as we previously thought,” Mr Kusher said.
“But we’re also seeing an underperformance of units so there’s probably a mild oversupply because I think houses are still in reach for people to buy whereas they’re not necessarily in Sydney.”
However, the same cannot be said of Brisbane where the number of empty high rises is already evident.
“Brisbane is probably the area where we’re seeing the most evident oversupply of units and there’s still a lot more in the pipeline,” Mr Kusher said.
“I live in Brisbane and as you walk around you can see a lot of units completed, a lot of the buildings have available ‘for rent’ signs all over them and there’s a lot more to still come up for completion over the next couple of years.
“Overall, I think there’s not too much oversupply in terms of total housing in Sydney and Melbourne, but there is a bit of unit oversupply in Brisbane and certainly potential for some in Melbourne.”
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