Australia’s property prices have looked bubbly for a while, but the surge is likely to hit a wall soon amid a combination of few births, high mortality and sparse migration, Goldman Sachs said.
House prices have appreciated 23 percent over the past two-and-a-half years and are forecast to increase by 8 percent this year, driven in part by Chinese buyers seeking investment properties, HSBC estimated in February.
While the country’s population growth over the past decade had been among the most rapid in developed markets, that’s changing, Goldman said. Slowing income growth and women delaying having children have caused the birth rate to fall 3 percent on-year currently after a spike from 2005-2008, Goldman noted.
