Australian Housing Worth Over $8 Trillion
As prices surge, so does the total value of the Australian residential real estate market.
By Terry Christodoulou
Fri, May 7, 2021 11:17am
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For most it’s hard to visualise or consider $8 trillion, however, according to the latest estimations, the Australian residential real estate market sits just over that figure at $8.1 trillion.
According to analysts at CoreLogic, the surge in value follows the recent broad-based capital gains witnessed across the country, indicating many markets are now at their peak.
“The Australian dwelling market has reached fresh record highs for the past four months, but the end of April marked the first time the total value of Australian housing broke the $8 trillion dollar mark,” said CoreLogic head of research, Eliza Owen.
“This puts Australian residential property at around four times the size of Australian GDP, and around $1 trillion more than the combined value of the ASX, superannuation and commercial real estate stock combined,” said Ms Owen in a statement.
Pushing the value of homes over the $8 trillion mark is data showing that in the three months to April, national home values rose 6.8% – the highest quarterly dwelling growth rate since December 1988.
The increased valuation is good news for homeowners, now likely in a strong equity position, with the RBA estimating just 1.3% of housing loans to be in negative equity position, according to Ms Owen.
Alternatively, it means for Australians looking to purchase their first property, homeownership is being pushed further out of reach, despite record-low mortgage rates.
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So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
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Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
