04 JANUARY EDITION
2021 IS PRIMED FOR GROWTH
SUMMARY
• Housing market finished on a high in 2020 .
• Now is a good time to list given light stock levels .
After the intense crazy year , record-low borrowing costs and government efforts to stimulate the economy , the Australian housing market finished 2020 on a high and is primed for further growth in 2021 . Every market in our network finished the year in record territory , having firmly recovered from any COVID-induced lull triggered by the pandemic in early 2020 .
Australia ’ s economy continues to strengthen and shows strong signs of recovery , with the most recent figures showing November retail sales at a record level , a stronger than expected pick-up in growth in the third quarter and strengthening expectations for key measures such as business investment . All this has given us the confidence that 2021 will continue the same growth path . There remains more certainty now that the economy is entering 2021 with quite a lot of momentum . ANZ Bank economists said last week the risks to their forecasted growth for the year of a nine per cent gain in house prices was firmly “ tilted to the upside ”.
The performance of the housing market is often a tug of war between record low rates – which creates extra savings for homeowners – and people ’ s sense of confidence about their own financial security in the economy that may still come under pressure as the federal government withdraws stimulus measures such as JobKeeper . Future conditions are always difficult to predict and we have only ever suggested that our members and customers carefully review all activity in the market now . No matter what 2021 throws at us we know we are well placed to tackle any market .
We capped off 2020 with $ 6.1 billion in unconditional sales in December , up a staggering 60.7 per cent on the year prior . In Australia alone we
“ No matter what 2021 throws at us we know we are well placed to tackle any market .”