Homeseekers warned over small buying window


I have got to agree with this. The steadly increasing Queensland population due to immigration from interstate and overseas combined with the very slow rate of new builds must inevitably increase scarcity and scarcity inevitably brings price rises

It’s a buyer’s market but home seekers have been warned they may only have a small window to purchase properties at lower prices before they rise again.

Housing experts revealed many property markets were on track to rebound in the months ahead following record price falls over the past year.

The main drivers of the uplift in prices over the second half of the year were worsening housing shortages, rampant migration and runaway rental increases coaxing more first homebuyers to purchase.

Agents reported buyers had also adjusted to the initial shock of the Reserve Bank’s recent barrage of rate rises and were factoring future rises into their spending budgets.

My Housing Market economist Andrew Wilson said the market was already improving and looked likely to bottom out by June.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said there was mounting evidence the worst of the year-long housing slump had passed and prices in some cities were closer to static than falling.

Prices nationally inched down by just 0.09 per cent over January and by a similar margin over December – a far cry from the more than 1 per cent drops over the months following the first rate hikes in May.

Ms Conisbee said rate rises had pushed down prices but their impact on future price movements had been overblown.

“It’s a big influence on the market, but it’s not the only factor,” she said. “Little housing stock is coming onto the market in most areas and this doesn’t look like it will change. In fact, it could get worse because we’re not building enough new homes and builders are going bust.”

Property figures showed current listings across the country are about 30 per cent below the five-year average. Three- and four-bedroom houses were in particularly short supply.

“The quality homes are rarely listed. Buyers who want them have to compete and prices for those houses will go up,” Real Estate Buyer’s Agents Association of Australia president Cate Bakos said.

“There are a lot of people who can buy, but aren’t doing so,” Ms Bakos said.

“They’re all for the bell to ring saying it’s the bottom of the market. Those buyers will be your competition when the market recovers. The exact same thing happened during pandemic. People held off until the market started booming, then it was too late.”

Buyer’s agent Rich Harvey of Property Buyer said sitting on the sidelines waiting for further falls in property prices before making a purchase wasn’t a smart strategy given how rapidly rents were rising.

A typical capital city tenant is currently spending about $30,000 a year in rent and some renters would not necessarily get this kind of saving on their purchase price if they kept waiting to buy.

“The biggest falls have already happened, any additional falls will be a lot smaller, but during all that time you’re paying a lot in rent that could have paid off your mortgage,” Mr Harvey said.

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