TASMANIA’S top-end property market has set a blistering pace through the first half of the year.
There were 79 houses sold for $1 million or more between January and June, according to the latest quarterly report from the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania.
On realestate.com.au there have been 14 more through July and August.
Through all of last year, there were 100 $1 million-plus sales.
Since 2000, there have only been three calendar years in which Tasmania broke the 100 $1 million-plus house sales mark.
The record was set in 2015 with 109. In 2010 there were 104 such sales recorded.
REIT president Tony Collidge said the first half of this year had seen the number of $1 million-plus sales grow by 58 per cent.
“When you look at the median prices in most inner Hobart suburbs, they are starting to push up past the $500,000 mark, which makes growth in $1 million sales not surprising,” he said.
“There have also been $1 million sales in the North and North-West of the state this year.”
Fall Real Estate property consultant Jeanne Best sold one of Tasmania’s most recent $1 million-plus properties, 22 De Witt St in Battery Point, which was listed at “offers over $1.8 million”.
Mrs Best had been house-hunting for the home buyers for two years to find them the perfect property.
“That is becoming more common. People will approach agents to find, for them, exactly what they are after,” she said.
Mrs Best has sold seven million-dollar properties this year, mostly in Sandy Bay but also at Otago and Eaglehawk Neck.
“It is an exciting time for our market. It is getting better and better,” she said.
“I have noticed a number of people who were born here then moved interstate or overseas are now coming back to settle in Tasmania.”
Knight Frank senior property consultant Rorie M. Auld said he has witnessed people buying property in Tassie and then “land or property banking’’ until they are ready to move here full-time.
He said that might be to retire or semi-retire, because flights and better broadband have made commuting and telecommuting more accessible and viable.
“A lack of stock has put upward pressure on our property prices,” Mr Auld said.
“Hobart prices have strengthened for the second quarter this year and they have been stimulated by those who have been priced out of heated [Australian] east coast cities like Sydney and Melbourne.
“Tasmania’s underlying economic fundamentals certainly help Hobart’s rising house prices, with 16 consecutive growth quarters.
“I think we are experiencing an alignment of factors, including global geopolitical and climatological uncertainty, and the renaissance of Tasmania itself with David Walsh [founder of Mona] or the ‘Walsh effect’ leading the charge.
“Tourist numbers are up while unemployment figures are down.”
*As seen on realestate.com.au