Things ‘on the up’ down under?

Australia has achieved stunning house price growth over the last year, reveals Knight Frank…

Coming in at 6^th in Knight Frank’s recently released Global House Price Index, Australia recorded annual house price growth of 13.8% over the last year – up to and including the first quarter of 2008.This was compared to 8.6% in the same period of 2007.

Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Research at Knight Frank, commented: “Although Australia has been subject to an extended period of restrictive monetary policy (12 consecutive 0.25% interest rate increases since May 2002), demand for residential accommodation has remained strong.

"Rising constructions costs, inflated by competing demand for labour and raw materials from the mineral sector, have contributed to a shortage of supply of new residential property, thus putting upward pressure on house prices. The increasing cost of finance has, to date, been counterbalanced by the strength of the minerals sector".