A Roy Morgan survey on Australia's unemployment and under-employed shows that the real unemployment rate fell to 9.8 per cent in January 2015. This compares with an official unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent in December 2014. The survey shows 2.27 million Australians are either unemployed or under-employed.

Sydney's price boom means many sellers in 2014 made huge resale profits even though they had owned their properties for less than five years. Fewer properties selling at a loss is a reflection of overall market conditions.

There was a 20 per cent jump in apartment sales in Australia in 2014, to a historic high of 14,293, and the Housing Industry Association predicts a higher figure in 2015.