PHOTO: Home buying sentiment has fluctuated wildly pre and post Covid lockdowns.
Buyers are taking a wait-and-see approach according to recent data that reveals only a third of house hunters feel now is the time to purchase property.
Just 35 per cent of Australians think it is a good time to buy, according to Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker survey — the lowest level of property positivity since the comparison site began the monthly study two and a half years ago.
The report’s Property Positivity Index has continued a downward trend after hitting its peak in December 2020, when 67 per cent of respondents believed it was a great time to buy real estate.
Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker. Graphic: Supplied
That figure has now almost halved as affordability issues arise.
Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, said the seemingly unstoppable escalation of property prices was taking its toll on many frustrated house hunters.
“Extended lockdowns and border closures have done little to curb price growth this year. As we emerge from those lockdowns, a record number of Australians are pessimistic that now is the time to buy,” Mr Cooke added.
Since the pandemic, homebuyers have been through a rollercoaster ride of sentiment.
“What’s interesting is that the property positivity index has been driven down twice in the last two years – but for two very different reasons,” he explained.
Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker. Graphic: Supplied
“We’ve been tracking this for nearly three years and in doing so we ask a lot of questions about people’s economic situation, including if they think now is a good time to buy property. The percentage of people who said ‘yes’ bounced between 55 and 60 per cent for most of 2019 and into 2020 – then it dropped pretty rapidly as soon as Covid hit,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, Mr Cooke said the positivity index dropped to 42 per cent by April 2020.
“Initially, the whole economy was in turmoil and people were afraid of what was going to happen to the housing and stock markets. The index number stayed relatively low and slowly came back to end up higher than it had been before the pandemic began,” he said.
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