The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published a report this week, showing that property prices across the country are both rising and falling. Following continuous annual increases in the value of properties down under, results for the third quarter of the year shows that there were slight rises in a few cities, while there was a significant drop in major markets in other parts of the country.

Statistics released by ABS shows that national average prices rose by 8.2% for the year, up until September. This proved to be the lowest annualised increase since 2001. The greatest price rises for 2004 were recorded in Brisbane (20.5%) and Darwin (19.8%). However, records for the third quarter only show that prices fell in Hobart (-2.2%), Melbourne (-1.6%), Sydney (-2%), and Brisbane (-0.2%), with slight increases in the smaller markets such as Darwin where prices rose 3.8%, Adelaide (1.3%), Perth (3%), and Canberra (0.6%).

Tuesday 30 November 2004
Shanghai Property Market.

According to a quarterly report recently released by DTZ, all sectors of Shanghais property leasing market were active during the third quarter of 2004. The report also showed that occupancy rates among villas, service apartments, and high-tier non-serviced apartments all reached the highest level since 1998.

Further top of the range properties, are expected to be introduced to the market in 2005 and 2006 and replace older and poorer quality properties. This is expected to increase rental levels further.

Monday 29 November 2004
Hong Kong Rising.

Hong Kongs property sector is set to continue growing as we move in to 2005 given the citys economic recovery after years of deflation and slumping sales.

U.S.-based Prudential Real Estate Investors believes that Hong Kongs office rental levels, up 20% in the past year, are set to continue rising in the foreseeable future, while the citys luxury residential market has achieved on-year capital gains in the region of 45%.

In a recent sector report, Prudential said that "residential and retail markets will continue to benefit from improving employment prospects, stable and rising asset markets and a rebound in domestic demand."