I reported earlier this week how the number of active rental listings has fallen sharply in Victoria, led by Melbourne:
One of the reasons cited for the decline is that increasing numbers of investors in Victoria are selling up. At the same time, new investor lending in Victoria is lagging, as illustrated below by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS):
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One upside from the decline in property investors is that it has helped to boost purchases by first home buyers, who are no longer being outbid:
As shown in the table above from the ABS, the share of first home buyer mortgages is far higher in Victoria than other Australian states.
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A survey by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), reported in the ABC, said the reasons behind investors selling included “government increasing or threatening to increase taxes, changes to tenancy legislation and rising interest rates”.
“Talk of Victorian investors selling up is rife, with investor groups blaming interest rates, increased land taxes, and the scrapping of no-fault evictions”, the ABC reported.
“The state government is also consulting on raising minimum rental standards that could place new obligations on landlords from October 30”.
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PropTrack economic research director Cameron Kusher also noted separately that “the state government in Victoria is still seeing investors selling out of the market which is creating space for first home buyers”.