RP Data-Rismark Property Index

RP Data Ltd Announcement - 3rd July 2007

Housing market stages recovery in April and May 2007 year to date. Most capital cities experience robust house price growth except Perth, where property prices have continued to be flat.

The latest RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index results for April and May* 2007 show that the Australian housing market has staged a broad recovery from the sluggish or negative returns over the last two years.

However the Perth market appears to be continuing its correction in 2007 after strong, sustained growth in recent years.

For the period between January and April 2007, house prices have increased strongly in Brisbane (7.9%), Adelaide (5.7%), and Darwin (4.1%), while Sydney and Canberra have experienced more subdued recoveries (1.4% and 1.2% respectively).

Perth house prices have fallen 2.7% since the beginning of the year. The bursting of the Perth property bubble was first highlighted by RP Data-Rismark earlier in 2007.

Overall, the Australian housing market grew by 2.4% between January and April 2007 (refer to Table 1 below). The “indicative” RP Data-Rismark Index results for May 2007 confirmed these trends, although it should be noted that the indicative results are preliminary data and subject to revision.

Sydney has now reclaimed the mantle as Australia’s most expensive market, with a median house price of $515,800, followed by Perth at $462,000.

Dr Matthew Hardman, Rismark’s Head of Research, said ”The RP Data-Rismark Index results confirm our view that the Australian housing market remains resilient in most states, despite the RBA’s three interest rate hikes in 2006.”

“The strong growth registered in many Australian cities is a consequence of growing pressure due to housing supply constraints, which has been building since 2003. It is RP Data-Rismark’s belief that insufficient housing supply will underpin continued property price rises in the years to come.”

Dr Hardman continued, “While this may be good news for existing home owners, it is not such a positive outcome for those Australians who are currently locked out of the housing market. The fact is that housing affordability remains a major concern for many Australians who are caught in the rental trap. Disturbingly, it appears that affordability in many cities will only deteriorate in the future.”

* The May 2007 year-to-date results are “indicative” only, since they rely on a smaller sample of property sales data and do not reflect the
MORE comprehensive sales database used to publish the “final” figures of April 2007 YTD.

The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Indices draw on Australia’s largest property information database, provided by RP Data Limited (ASX: RPX), a $300 million ASX-listed company.

The RP Data-Rismark Indices have been independently audited by Moody’s and the academic research body, SIRCA. In a detailed 35 page report on the RP Data-Rismark Indices, Moody’s concluded, “The suite of indexes calculated by RP Data-Rismark represents a significant improvement in the quality of housing price statistics available in Australia…These data are more sophisticated, detailed and have better coverage than that used in the construction of existing housing price indexes in Australia.” RP Data spends over $5 million each year collecting and cleansing property data and possesses the most comprehensive suite of real estate information services in Australia. RP Data is also the largest supplier of property data to the real estate industry.

Chief Executive Officer of RP Data, Mr Graham Mirabito, said “The prices of apartments and units, which represent around 15% of the entire Australian housing market, appear to have rebounded even more strongly than houses. Sydney is the most expensive apartment market, with a median price of $381,500, followed by Perth at $355,000.”

With the exception of Perth, all of the major capital cities have experienced striking growth in unit prices between January and April 2007 with the standouts being Darwin (13.5%), Canberra (10.5%), Brisbane (9.0%), Adelaide (7.6%) and Melbourne (4.7%). Refer to Table 2 below for more detail on the performance of the apartment/unit market.

* The May 2007 year-to-date results are “indicative” only, since they rely on a smaller sample of property sales data and do not reflect the MORE comprehensive sales database used to publish the “final” figures of April 2007 YTD.

In the rental market, gross yields on apartments/units nationally have been relatively stable at around 4.5% per annum. Sydney and Adelaide apartments/units have generally delivered the highest gross rental yields of all capital cities.

* The May 2007 year-to-date results are “indicative” only, since they rely on a smaller sample of property sales data and do not reflect the MORE comprehensive sales database used to publish the “final” figures of April 2007 YTD.

For more detailed information on the RP Data-Rismark Indices, please go to http://www.rpdata.com/indices/

Background on RP Data:
Established in 1991, ASX-listed RP Data (ASX: RPX) is the largest supplier of commercial and residential property information services throughout Australia and New Zealand and is the first and only provider of only provider of hedonic based Property Indices and AVM’s. Subscription clients to RP Data’s property information service include over 8,500 real estate agents, valuers, property developers, financial institutions and government departments. RP Data is also the largest supplier of property reports to Australians with over 600,000 property reports issued each year.

With an annual investment of more than $5 million in databases, RP Data has more than 65 million property data records covering 12 million properties in Australia and New Zealand including ownership records; 11 million property attribute records; 3.6 million property features records; 15.8 million property sales records; 12 million property maps; 16.8 million property photos; and 9 million “on the market” property listing records. For more information visit www.rpdata.com.

Background on Rismark International:
Rismark is a global real estate investment business that specialises in quantitative research, funding, and securitisation. Rismark is a private company owned by management and a number of leading financial services companies. Rismark has executed exclusive strategic agreements with organisations such as Adelaide Bank, PMI Mortgage Insurance, GFI Group (NASDAQ: GFIG), Wizard Home Loans, RP Data Limited, and others. Rismark’s management team has extensive experience in quantitative residential real estate research and is augmented by a Global Research Advisory Board comprising of eminent academics from Sydney University, Melbourne University, and Yale. For more information visit www.rismark.com.au.