Daily Buzz: Thursay, 11 July
By
PropertyBuzz, your daily dose of property news.
A surge in Aussies abandoning or reducing their home insurance; soaring construction costs are slowing; and Australian mortgages blow-out to record high
Welcome to Property Buzz! I’m Sebastian Holloman. Today is Thursday, 11 July.
A survey by Finder has revealed that 20% of Australians have switched their home insurance policies in the past two years to save money due to rising living costs.
An additional 3% have either downgraded or completely abandoned their policies, leaving approximately 370,000 Australians financially vulnerable in case of a disaster.
Finder advises homeowners to shop around for better deals instead of automatically renewing their policies, as loyalty doesn’t necessarily result in savings.
Over in the residential construction sector, Corelogic has relayed that costs may be stabilising, with a 0.5% increase in costs over Q2 2024, following a 0.8% rise in Q1.
The total increase in construction costs for FY2024 was 2.6%, the smallest annual rise since March 2002, and significantly below the pre-COVID decade average of 4%.
The slowdown in residential construction costs is seen as a positive for inflationary pressures, with price stability attributed to reduced price volatility for materials.
And even with a 12-year high in the RBA cash rate, Australian borrowers are taking out larger mortgages than ever, with the average new owner-occupier mortgage reaching a record $626,055, according to RateCity.
State-by-state, average mortgage sizes were highest in NSW at almost $770,000 and lowest in the Northern Territory, at $437,000.
Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia all reported record highs, with Victoria the only state to see a decrease in the average mortgage size.
That’s Property Buzz for today. See you again tomorrow, 12 July, for your daily dose of Property Buzz.
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