NW house price boom
By PHILIPPA DUNCAN
23may06
THE North-West Coast is in the middle of a mini real estate boom.

Burnie and Ulverstone have both recorded median house price rises far above their big city counterparts.

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania figures reveal the median house price for Burnie jumped 20.5 per cent to $170,000 in the past year.

In Ulverstone, the median house price has increased 9.7 per cent over the same period to $221,000.

Hobart, Launceston and Devonport recorded modest increases -- 4.2 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.

REIT president John Ackroyd said demand for houses in Burnie and Ulverstone had been strong and constant since early December.

"Things are fairly active up and down the North-West Coast," the Devonport real estate agent said.

"Since Christmas there have been more properties on the market and a wealth of buyers.

"[The North-West] is catching up."

Mr Ackroyd said first home buyers and home owners upgrading had kept the market active.

He did not expect a lull in demand until winter.

The REIT numbers backed Housing Industry Association data for the March quarter released this week.

HIA housing director Simon Tennent said that Commonwealth Bank figures showed prices increased 6.2 per cent in regional areas.

But house prices in capital cities remained roughly the same over the quarter, he said.

The same HIA data revealed that housing affordability rose 4.1 per cent in Hobart but fell by 8.4 per cent in regional Tasmania.

The REIT figures had good news for home owners in inner Hobart, where the median house prices rose 11.8 per cent in the past year to $388,500.

In middle and outer Hobart the median house prices rose 4.6 per cent and 7.9 per cent to $250,000 and $260,000 respectively.

Overall this translated to a 4.2 per cent annual rise for Hobart to $282,500.

The number of houses sold in Hobart rose 20.6 per cent on the previous quarter and 29.1 per cent over the year.