Sentiment’s still high for homebuyers

Sentiment’s still high for homebuyers

Posted on Monday, November 17 2014 at 1:20 PM

A new survey conducted by RP Data and Nine Rewards has revealed that people are still generally feeling pretty good about property, despite the fact that capital city home values have been rising for more than two years now.

RP Data’s senior
research analyst Cameron Kusher says: “Most respondents still felt as if it is
a good time to buy property, although with the current growth period having run
for so long, it isn’t a surprise to see a slight fall in the proportion of
respondents who think now is a good time to buy.”

At the national
level, a majority of the 1021 people responding to the survey felt it was a
good time to buy property, although there were some variations across the
regions. Only 52.8 per cent of Sydney respondents felt that now was a good time
to buy – a pretty pessimistic vibe compared to the Tasmanian respondents, 100
per cent of whom felt it was. Regional Queensland, too, saw some positive
sentiment, with 79.1 per cent feeling the time was right to buy.

The survey also
asked whether Australia’s housing market was vulnerable to a significant
correction, to which 68 per cent of respondents replied that it was.
Interestingly, respondents from areas where values have seen minimal growth
over recent years were most inclined to think a significant correction was a
possibility.

Survey
respondents felt that home values were likely to either increase (45 per cent)
or remain stable (43 per cent) over the coming year, with just 12 per cent
anticipating a fall.

When it comes to the
question of interest rates, 63 per cent of respondents felt that rates would
remain on hold over the six months from September 2014 to March 2015. Just two
per cent expected rates to fall.

Western
Australians clearly feel that now is not the time to put their properties on
the market, with less than half of Perth respondents saying it’s a good time to
sell, and even less from the rest of the state (34.5 per cent). Sydneysiders,
on the other hand, still feel there’s money to be made, with 78.2 per cent of
respondents from the NSW capital believing the timing’s right to sell.

Respondents
continue to believe that personal financial situation is the most important
factor when it comes to purchasing a property, with just 12 per cent citing job
security as the most important. Prospects for capital growth was the second
most popular answer to this question, with 20 per cent citing it as the most
important factor for them.

People were more
bullish about the rental markets – more than half of the survey’s respondents
(52 per cent) are expecting rental rates to rise over the coming year, with only
five per cent expecting a decline. 

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