State of Markets - TAS March 2013

Fast figures

• $948: median weekly household income (Source: ABS)
• 2.1: current vacancy rate in Hobart (Source: SQM)
• 2,780: growth in population over the past 12 months (Source: 2012-2013 Tasmania Budget)

Property owners given certainty
Property owners in Tasmania have been given more certainty under a government acquisition, according to federal minister for infrastructure and transport, Anthony Albanese.`

Owners of property needing to be bought by the government for the construction of Bridgewater Bridge have been assured of $6.4 million of funding to acquire their assets.

“Consultation with affected land owners, stakeholders, and community has meant that this footprint has been clearly identified, and we can now give these people the option to move on with certainty,” Mr Albanese said.  

According to minister for infrastructure, David O’Byrne, this has moved faster than planned, with the next Nation Building 2 submission previously planned for between July 2014 and June 2019.

2013 subdued for Tasmania
On a national level the property market has already bottomed, but according to the First National Real Estate 2013 Property Market Outlook, Tasmania will continue to decline into 2013.

One hundred per cent of the 400-plus members surveyed for the report believed Tasmania had not yet bottomed.

According to recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, Tasmania experienced the lowest growth rate of 0.5 per cent for 2011/2012.

While the rest of Australia will see gradual growth in the first six months of 2013, Tasmania and South Australia are the only two places where most members expect their real estate businesses to continue operating at the same level as they are currently, the Outlook report stated.