Almost doubles within four years, says PEXA
Australians’ passion for property has remained strong in a year of record interest rate hikes, with Australia recording more than 730,000 property sale settlements nationally in 2022, according to PEXA’s latest Property Insights report.
Property sale settlements dipped 11.8% nationally in 2022 from the record-high levels seen in 2021 but were 16% higher than in 2020 and 24% higher than in the pre-pandemic 2019.
“In value terms, rising property settlement volumes together with sharply rising prices nationwide saw the aggregate value of all property settlements reach an all-time annual peak of $688bn in 2021, before falling by 2% to $674.5bn in 2022,” said PEXA head of research Mike Gill (pictured above).
“Even after this dip however, the aggregate value of settlements in 2022 was still 54% higher than in 2020 and 72% higher than in 2019.”
The national aggregate value of property sales in 2022, meanwhile, only slipped 2%, to $674.5bn, which was considerably higher than the aggregate value of sales posted in 2020 ($437.8bn) and 2019 ($390.9 bn), the PEXA report showed.
In the residential housing market, Queensland had highest number of sale settlements, with 194,849 completed in 2022. The state’s southern neighbour, NSW, recorded the largest drop in sale settlements for the year, with volume falling 18.1% from 2021 (177,555 sale settlements), and down 9% in aggregate value ($207bn).
Victoria saw the lowest annual decline across the three major eastern states, posting 185,096 sale settlements (down 10.6% year-on-year) with an aggregate value of $157.1bn, which was up 0.6% from 2021.
South Australia saw 51,215 sales settled in 2022 (nearly 4,000 less than in 2021) but had the highest growth percentage of any state in aggregate value of settlements, up 12% to $33.8bn.
Western Australia’s property market had been the most resilient in 2022, with the volume of sale settlements only dipping 3.6% YoY, but the aggregate value of property sold lifted by 12% to $54.1bn
Victoria led the east coast states in commercial real estate settlements, with 12,522 commercial properties settled during 2022. This was followed by Queensland with 10,638, then by NSW with 10,398 commercial real estate settlements.
Julie Toth, PEXA’s chief economist, said this year’s lower settlement numbers came as no surprise, as they confirmed that property market conditions are now normalising following two extraordinary years for Australia’s property markets.
“Looking ahead, the Australian property market will continue to moderate through 2023, in response to the sharpest tightening of monetary policy in Australian history, as well as other cyclical factors,” Toth said.
“A number of variables exist for Australia’s economy and property markets in 2023. Net migration is returning to Australia for example, but it’s likely timing and exact composition is not yet clear.
“The impending mass return of international university students to Australian cities could provide a sudden and unexpected boost to rental housing demand. On the supply side, the climate-related escalation in weather events could further deplete housing stocks in some locations, delay essential repairs and add to the pipeline of new dwellings waiting to be built.”
Visit Property Now for more information on the PEXA Property Insights Report for 2022.
