The market has been in an extended slide over the past few weeks, with home prices falling by 7.3 per cent in the first half of the year, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Statistics.
That compares with a 10.2 per cent drop in the year to February.
“There is no reason for anyone to believe that the market will collapse in the near future,” said economist John Kynaston.
“It is a bubble that is still alive, albeit in an inflated form.”
The boom in Sydney’s housing market was triggered by the NSW Government’s decision to sell the state’s biggest block of state-owned land, the Gold Coast, for $3.3 billion, bringing the number of dwellings in the CBD down to about 14,000.
This was followed by a $1.2 billion loan for the $5 billion Fitzroy Waterfront redevelopment.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that while some of the banks were not yet sold off, other banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Bank of New South Wales, had been bought up.
The Bank of Sydney was one of those banks.
The Federal Reserve said it was “not in a position to comment on the valuation or sale of assets”.
While the government has said it expects a 10 per cent increase in house prices over the next three years, there is no guarantee that it will happen.
The Australian Capital Territory’s Bureau of Housing said it is “not confident” the property market will continue to be a “bust market”.
A report by the Reserve Bank of Australia last year found that in Sydney, there were 7,500 new residential dwellings built in 2016, and about 15,000 dwellings sold in 2017.
However, the RBA said the number was still much lower than in the past.
The Reserve Bank has also recently announced it will cut interest rates to 0.75 per cent, which could lead to a sharp drop in prices.
Barefoot living: the Australian Capital Territories’ report In January, the Reserve Board said it had been unable to determine the price of a house for $400,000 in Sydney.
“The Reserve Bank is not certain whether the house market in the capital is a bust or not,” the report said.
However, the Bank of NSW has warned that a bust could occur.
The bank said it has been able to identify some “interesting” properties, including a three-bedroom house that is “undervalued by up to 20 per cent”.
“There are properties that have an average selling price that is well above the average cost of the property in Sydney and in Melbourne,” it said.
“The Reserve Board does not believe that these properties are undervalued.”
The RBA is warning that the housing market is not a bubble, but there is still a chance that prices could fall.
Borrowing: the Reserve bank said there was a risk that interest rates could rise if the property price falls.
In a separate report, the National Bank of Queensland warned that rising house prices would put pressure on the economy, with household debt falling and wages rising.
The Reserve bank also warned that interest rate rises could cause a further decline in house values.
While prices are rising, there are concerns about the quality of the housing in the market.
More to come.