Despite growing concerns that the property market may see a downturn, a significant number of Australians said they were optimistic about the direction of property prices in their area in six months’ time.
A recent National Property Seller Sentiment Survey, conducted by OpenAgent, a real estate agent referral platform company, in partnership with onthehouse.com.au (a CoreLogic business), has unveiled numerous insights from property sellers.
The survey drew 8,000 responses from 3,185 recipients who opted into the survey over the past 11 months to September.
“A key takeout from the survey was Perth, which, after years of delivering lacklustre property activity, finally looks to be making a comeback,” said Marta Higuera, co-founder and co-CEO of OpenAgent.
“The survey also revealed that there has been a significant shift from a pessimistic to an optimistic homeowner sentiment. On the flipside, the survey confirmed that Sydney’s property price confidence has been slowly eroding since the beginning of the year, making Melbourne the leading capital city in terms of pricing outlook [as seen by homeowners].”
The index used in the survey operates on a scale of -10 to +10. Hence, a reading of 0 denotes a neutral view, +5 denotes strong optimism, and -5 denotes strong pessimism.
When breaking down national sentiment, a relative low in consumer sentiment appeared in the index from the second quarter of 2017 into the third quarter, with readings of between +3.6 and +3.7 for the four consecutive months. In contrast, consumer sentiment was higher in January, March, and April, when index values were at least +4.0.
In New South Wales, there was a steady decline in consumer sentiment, from a peak of +6.5 in January 2017. Some fluctuation occurred in the third quarter, with values of +4.2 in July, +4.9 in August, and +3.8 in September. In Victoria, index values hovered around +5.5 this year, with an occasional spike downward, though no clear trend has emerged.
As for the capitals, Melbourne is now the clear winner when it comes to price growth expectation at +5.4. This is followed by Sydney (+4.2), Adelaide (+3.9), and Brisbane (+3.8).
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