Budget of less than $400,000? Options are becoming limited
Buying a home in one of Australia’s capital cities with a budget of less than $400,000 is becoming harder. Figures from CoreLogic RP Data show that with residential property prices having increased by 7.9 per cent last year there are now fewer options for those on a smaller budget. Twenty years ago around 95 per cent of houses and units nationally were sold for less than $400,000. Today just 22.2 per cent of houses and 35.3 per cent of units are in that lower price bracket. Another third of all houses and units are priced between $400,000 and $600,000.
There are vast regional differences; in Sydney and Canberra buying a house on a smaller budget is seriously tough with only around 10 per cent of properties in the NSW capital below $400,000 and just 7 per cent in Canberra. In Hobart and Adelaide almost half of houses fall into that bracket.  Sydney also has the fewest units priced below $400,000 at around 20 per cent, although Canberra exceeds 40 per cent in this property type. Hobart and Adelaide again excel in the numbers of lower-priced units.
Source: CoreLogic RP Data
 
Reserve price: $1, Sale price: $565,000
It could have been a disaster for a Sydney homeowner as they listed their home for auction at the weekend with a reserve price of one dollar. Fortunately their strategy to peak interest in their four-bedroom home in Blacktown worked wonders and the potential bargain fetched a respectable $565,000. The house had been listed at $570,000 last November but when it didn’t sell Neil Tyagi decided to take a gamble.
Source: The Domain Group
 
Property Council says plan to tax commercial property won’t work
The Property Council of Australia says that a plan to tax property owners and businesses in Sydney that are closer to transportation links is flawed. The proposal by the NSW Tourism and Transport Forum would mean that commercial properties would pay extra depending on their proximity to transport infrastructure. The Property Council’s Glenn Byres says that those who would be affected already pay a premium for their location and would be taxed on “assumed uplift that hasn’t yet actually occurred.” He added that additional taxes could put the economy at risk and would be disproportionate on a sector that is already a large contributor: “The property industry already pays over one-third of all state taxes and generates approximately $6 billion in tax revenue for local government.” The Property Council is supporting alternative ways to invest in transport infrastructure.
Source: Property Council of Australia
 
 

Collections: