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With the spring selling season underway, a fresh confidence in buyers may be observed, managing director for MAB Sydney, Mark Kevin, has said.
The typically busy spring selling season has kicked off and with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holding rates at 4.1 per cent for the third consecutive month, managing director of Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) Sydney, Mark Kevin, has suggested that buyer confidence will be bouncing back.
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“I think we will see a renewed confidence in the owner-occupier market with rates on hold and likely to stay that way,” Mr Kevin told The Adviser.
“Affordability and loan servicing will still present challenges, particularly for first home buyers, but for people who are income secure there is an emerging acceptance this is the new normal and they want to get on with it.”
According to CoreLogic, in the week ended 3 September 2023, a total of 2,291 homes went under the hammer across Australia’s capitals, an increase of 25 per cent on the same week of last year’s figure at 1,823.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said the housing market and selling conditions are “looking a bit better” as the shock of rate rises were only just starting to settle across the housing market last year.
“If you look at the same period last year, the combined capital [cities’] clearance rate was averaging around 55 per cent, as opposed to the average 65 per cent where it’s been the past few weeks,” she said.
Mr Kevin added that the increase in activity could mean prospective buyers will be presented with more choice and “perhaps less urgency”, however, there will still be strong buyer demand.
“I’m observing the return of investors (and lifestyle purchases) might be a little slower, but we are still seeing strong demand from SMSF investors who have perhaps tapped out of capacity outside super but want to keep investing in property,” Mr Kevin said.
Home prices continue to climb
For the sixth consecutive month, home values have continued an upward trajectory, with CoreLogic’s latest Home Value Index (HVI) recording a 0.8 per cent increase in August.
CoreLogic’s HVI has risen 4.9 per cent since bottoming out in February, with $34,301 being added to the median dwelling value.
The gain in August was a slight acceleration from the 0.7 per cent recorded in July, ceasing the two-month trend of slowing value gains in the capitals, according to CoreLogic.
Similarly, PropTrack’s Home Price Index also recorded a rise in national home prices, up 0.28 in August, with price up 2.64 per cent on last year and up 3.51 per cent so far in 2023.
[RELATED: Prices surge as spring selling season starts]
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