PHOTO: David Smith, chief customer officer of mortgage broker Aussie, says now could be the time to move off the sidelines and not be crippled by fear. Source: Supplied
We live in unprecedented times for the property market with interest rates at the lowest levels in history. Is now the time to take the plunge?
With interest rates at record lows but residential property prices remaining resilient, is now the time to jump into the market?
CoreLogic data for August shows dwelling prices dipped in most capital cities over the past three months.
But over 12 months, only Perth, Darwin and regional WA went backwards, while values in Sydney and Melbourne climbed by more than 12 and 8 per cent respectively.
Research commissioned by mortgage broker Aussie of about 2800 people in capital cities and regions in mid-June found Australians were nervous about entering the property market as the coronavirus pandemic cast doubts over making such a major investment decision.
There were 20,000 sales around Australia during the June quarter, down from 32,000 for the same period last year.
“There’s a lot of people sitting on their hands at the moment, just waiting to see how this whole pandemic plays out,” Real Estate Institute of Australia president Adrian Kelly said.
A whopping 70 per cent of respondents to the Aussie survey believed job security would be a challenge to buying a new property, while 61 per cent said the crisis had prompted them to change plans.
That’s understandable, the company’s chief customer officer David Smith said, particularly with younger generations who suffer higher rates of unemployment and underemployment.
“We know that the banks and other lenders are looking at what industry you’re working in and in what capacity more stringently than they might have done previously,” he said.
READ MORE VIA NEWS.COM.AU
