Sydney investors pile in
Figures released today showed a resurgence in Sydney investor loans in March, suggesting that buyers are sceptical of a looming oversupply.
Following the Federal Budget APRA has new powers allowing the regulator to target real estate hotspots, and the $6.2 billion of investor loans written for property investors in New South Wales in the month confirmed the reason why they may be needed.
I'll look at the investor loans figures in a separate post, but first a bit more colour on Sydney vacancy rates.
Figures from SQM Research released yesterday showed Sydney-wide vacancy rates at 1.8 per cent.
Vacancy rates in middle ring Sydney (10 to 25 kilometres radius) fell to just 1.2 per cent in April 2017.
This is the lowest monthly result since March 2011, more than six years ago.
In inner Sydney too, vacancy rates tightened to a remarkably low level of just 1.5 per cent according to the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) survey.
The monthly numbers are liable to chop around a bit, but the figures I've smoothed below show how inner and middle ring Sydney have remained tight.
In outer Sydney the reported vacancy rate was 2.2 per cent for the third month in the past four.
