IF I AM CONSIDERING SELLING , WHY SHOULD I GO TO MARKET NOW ?
SUMMARY
• Major improvement in mortgage deferrals but economy still stimulated .
• Good opportunity to sell before Christmas .
Many of our customers want to know what ’ s happening in the Australian property market now . While we work in the now and use our real time market insights , we know there are many risks to the economy in the future . We still believe now is a good time to come to the market .
Australia ’ s largest bank looks like it is getting on top of customer deferrals at a decent rate . The CBA has made some serious headway in bringing customers back into the fold and making repayments again . Last week CBA released its quarterly results showing it was holding onto 46,000 frozen mortgages worth $ 19 billion . While considerable , it ’ s a major improvement for Australia ’ s largest lender , which was holding almost $ 50 billion worth just four months ago in June . We are not seeing any spike in distress sales at all .
There are no forced sellers right now . In fact it ’ s the total opposite , home and business lending are riding high and loan applications continue to flow in at unprecedented rates . All the bankers understand though that Australia ’ s hyper-stimulated economy is something of an artifice . That doesn ’ t necessarily mean that the economy will fall in a heap next year , or that unemployment will rise significantly , or even that credit defaults will rise . It just means that the economic strides made over the past few months may not be as sustainable as they appear , or serve as a sign of things to come . For the banks , including CBA , the rate at which they have weaned business and home loan borrowers off interest rate deferrals has been quite extraordinary .
“ There ’ s a rush among buyers to secure a home before the end of the year . ”
The ME Quarterly Property Sentiment Report shows housing sentiment has almost rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels , with home owners less worried about the state of the property market .
The latest edition of the report , conducted in October 2020 , says 38 per cent of Australians in the property market feel “ positive ” about it , which is just four percentage points below the October 2019 level . Positive sentiment had dropped to 29 per cent in April at the peak of the pandemic , when large parts of the country were in lockdown .
“ More people are predicting house prices to increase and we ’ re seeing people ’ s perceptions of housing affordability have improved as well . Those things together say to me , overall , we know Aussies love property , and once they have confidence that the economic fundamentals are coming back to life , they still see property as a good investment and something Australians aspire to ,” ME ’ s head of home loans Andrew Bartolo said .
So right now there ’ s a good opportunity to sell . There ’ s a rush among buyers to secure a home before the end of the year . A shorter than normal hiatus is expected over Christmas this year . This year ’ s selling season will be extended with new listings continually being added to the market and auctions being booked right up to Christmas eve . Demand has been strongest from first-time buyers and upgraders , many of whom are spending money on a house they might otherwise have used on overseas holidays , which have been stopped because of COVID-19 .
8 The information is general information only , not financial advice , and does not take into account your individual objectives , financial situation or needs .