Aussie homeowners are staying put for longer: Here’s why

Australian homeowners are holding onto their properties for longer than ever as a lack of properties to buy at a time of rising property values creates uncertainty about being able to find a better alternative.

10 years ago, the average length of time Australians stayed in each property they own was 7.5 years for houses and 6.5 years for apartments, according to RP Data (now Corelogic.) fast forward to today’s market and the latest analysis by realestate.com.au shows the average hold time across both houses and units is around 3 years longer than it was a decade ago. As of late last year, Aussies were staying put for around 10.6 years in houses and for 9.5 years in units.

Hold times in Sydney

Oran Park had the shortest average hold time for houses at 1.7 years, which was wildly different from Taren Point’s 22.7 years, the data shows. The Sydney suburb with the longest average hold time for units was Eastlakes at 17.8 years while popular Kellyville had the shortest hold time for units at just 4.4 years.

What is driving the shift

One factor is our rising property prices. Australian housing values increased a further 1.6% in July, according to CoreLogic’s national home value index. The latest rise takes housing values 14.1% higher over the first seven months of the year and 16.1% higher over the past twelve months. CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless, described the market as strong but losing steam.

Source: Aussie homeowners are staying put for longer: Here’s why (propertyupdate.com.au)