Cheaper cost of money
Many of the US housing markets are flying on the back of record low mortgage rates.
New home sales have soared to their highest level since 2006.
It's not so yet in Australia, with Melbourne in lockdown and uncertainty abounding, although mortgage rates for new loans have continued to decline to record lows.
Melbourne has been somewhat cut adrift as the lockdown continues, with home values now down -4.9 per cent from their early April peak.
Prices in Sydney have leveled off lately, and there have been some modest increase in Adelaide, Brisbane, and notably Perth where sentiment in rising.
Still a wide range of outcomes remains possible, given the uncertain spread of COVID-19, but price falls in the capital cities are now largely limited to Melbourne, and some inner-city unit markets.
