Caveat emptor : Pitfalls in the red-hot Australian property market

Published Mon, Mar 7, 2022 · 05:31 PM

From a distance it may look as if nothing can derail the Australian property market. Australia's median property price rose 22 per cent last year - its best performance in three decades. In fact, there has been 25-year bull market in capital city property prices.

So it may be tempting for Singapore investors, newly burdened with additional taxes, to dive in now that border closures are being eased. But it would be prudent to scrutinise all the factors playing out in that market.

The biggest single factor is clearly the low interest rate regime that has prevailed since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. This, coupled with a steady flow of economic migrants, greatly added to hosing demand in the capital cities, especially Sydney and Melbourne which account for about half of…