Four additional interest rate increases are anticipated which will serve to slow the market down and make affordability more difficult. Widely anticipated electricity price hikes are expected to increase the number of buyers looking for energy efficient features as well as change the types of features they look for. Water tanks and solar hot water and power are becoming the sought-after feature making a home more saleable, along with any features that will save them money. Price and government policy are seen as the key barriers to achieving this. Uncertainty created by the state election scheduled for 2011 may impact on the market, despite a widely anticipated change of government. Either way, the government needs to do more to alleviate the supply versus demand issue such as releasing more land. Gungahlin, one of the fastest growing regions in the country, is expected to be a property hot spot for the Canberra area. There is currently a lot of money being spent on infrastructure in the area to serve predicted future population growth.
First National Real Estate 2011 Property Market Outlook 15