Morning Briefing: Property prices in Sydney close to their peak

Property in Sydney reaching breaking point... Foreigners ordered to sell investment properties

Property prices in Sydney close to their peak
McGrath Real Estate chief executive John McGrath has declared the Sydney property market "close to peak", according to an article in the Australian Financial Review.
McGrath's Monday report for its Sydney weekend clearance rate was 80 per cent, and while this was a "stronger property market" indicator, McGrath said the Sydney and Melbourne markets were 80 to 90 per cent through their cycle.

"I'd be concerned if Sydney sees another double-digit growth. I'm predicting three to five per cent more and then I think it's going to be plateauing. Melbourne is probably about the same," he said at the Aussie Home Loans conference in Melbourne on Monday.

"The rest of Australia… much of it is preparing for its next growth cycle. South-east Queensland is going to be the hottest market for the next three years. Perth is just totally depending on resources. I wouldn't panic about the market. Sydney has got a few per cent more, then it might come back a few per cent and then it will go to a steady state and ditto for Melbourne."
 
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Foreigners ordered to sell investment properties
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey reported that several foreign home owners have been told to sell their real estate properties as the government strictly implements its homeownership laws against abusive foreign investors.

Six properties across the cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Perth that are valued between $152,000 and $1.86 million Australian dollars are currently owned by foreign investors from China and other countries. These six properties are just part of the recently discovered 462 possible cases of breaches in foreign homeownership rules after the government increased the budget for investigating these cases for the month of May.

Hockey said that more orders for foreign investors to sell their properties will be released soon and the penalties for lawbreakers will also increase. During the past few years, real estate prices has skyrocket making it unaffordable for Australian citizens and foreign investors are believed to be part of pushing up the prices in the real estate market.

Australian government is starting to worry that investors from China and Southeast Asia might be the reason why housing prices are reaching up to the ceiling. Also, it was reported that China has already became the country's biggest source of foreign investment with a total of 27.6 billion Australian dollars which half is accounted by real estate market.
 
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