The rich will get even richer this year as the nation approaches another massive property boom, a property expert has tipped.
Michael Yardney - who runs buyers' advocacy service Metropole Property Investment Strategists - says that despite the record low in affordability, there was no doubt the great divide would keep growing, with the more affluent suburbs set to be the strongest performers in 2007.
"I think, looking at the stage of the cycle we are in in SA, this is a year where the rich are going to get richer," Mr Yardney said.
He said Australia was on the cusp of one last momentous real estate boom caused by strong immigration, a lack of land and an increasing proportion of single-person households. As the price climb continued, home ownership levels would also continue to fall, he said.
The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has predicted that by 2011, the number of renters across the country will have risen 12 per cent, to 40 per cent of the population.
"Now that is just an amazing figure," Mr Yardney said. The property commentator predicts Adelaide's median house price will be $13.5 million in less than 40 years.
Recent State Government figures peg Adelaide's median house price at $300,000, up from $110,000 in 1996.
He said while such a rise seemed unimaginable, he pointed to countries like the United Kingdom, where house prices were beyond the reach of average people.
Source: The Advertiser
