There’s something weird going on in South Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance statistics, the number of owner-occupied housing finance commitments (excluding refinancings) in South Australia are tracking near decade lows, some -26% below the five-year moving average (see below chart).
And first home buyer demand in South Australia is highly subdued, with the number of FHB mortgage commitments some -30% below their 5YMA, with the FHB share of total mortgages (14%) also well below the 5YMA (17%) (see below charts).
Yet the Adelaide housing market is outperforming the rest of the nation according to RP Data-Rismark, having risen in value by nearly 1.2% since the beginning of the year as the other major capitals have suffered value losses (see below chart).
And the divergence in performance has been particularly stark since the beginning of April, with Adelaide rising in value by 2.7% as the other capitals have suffered value losses (see below chart).
Any ideas as to what might be causing Adelaide’s housing market to outperform the rest of the nation?
