THE residential property market will continue to move forward and the recent interest rate increases have not dampened sentiment amongst Australia’s top property experts.
The Australian Property Institute’s Property Directions Survey found property professionals believe the market will continue to be on an upswing through to 2012.
In addition, API NSW president Robert Hecek said the respondents were quite bullish and they believe the residential market will withstand further rate hikes.
“The overwhelming majority of respondents, 94%, believe interest rates will be higher in 12 months time. Despite this, they are still anticipating the residential property market will continue on an upswing,”
Hecek said a number of factors had made the residential property market remarkably resilient during the economic slowdown.
“The stimulus provided by the Government, combined with interest rate cuts and strong demand for housing helped ensure the residential sector remained strong.
“As the stimulus has been withdrawn and interest rates have increased, we have seen demand for housing stay strong due to issues such as a shortfall in supply,” he added.
Meanwhile Hecek said the withdrawal of the First Home Owners Boost did not have as great an impact as expected.
“In the September survey, 70% of respondents felt the withdrawal of this stimulus would have a significant impact on residential property priced below $500,000. Only 12% were expecting no impact.
“This current survey has found that 38% of respondents believe that withdrawing the stimulus has had little impact, while 55% believe there was a significant impact on the lower class of residential property,” he continued.
“The lower than expected impact of the withdrawal of the stimulus is a reflection of the overall strength of the residential market and the level of demand that remains for housing,” Hecek said.
API’s Victorian president Steve Simpson stated that the Melbourne residential sector is the most advanced in the upswing cycle of the three cities including Sydney and Brisbane.
“The residential property market in Melbourne is seeing as showing positive growth over the next two years with the top of the market not being reached until beyond the two year horizon.
And he said the large majority of respondents reported little to no impact on residential properties valued between $500,000 to $1 million and most viewed no impact over $1 million.
Australian Property Journal
