A recent national survey of 1100 users, conducted by www.realestateVIEW.com.au aimed to gather data on potential home buyers in 2010 and their feeling about the year ahead, as well as the sacrifices they would be willing to make to purchase a property.
While rising interest rates and house prices are concerns echoed by many home buyers, people still seem to be optimistic about successfully purchasing a home in 2010, although it may not be exactly what they had in mind when they originally started their property search.
How market demand and price increases are changing buyer decisions
With the market showing record growth over the 4th quarter of 2009, there was no surprise that buyers were reviewing their budget to buy in 2010. In fact a whopping 2 out of 3 people expected to have to increase their budget in order to find a suitable property in a suitable location in 2010, with 72% of these individuals expecting to raise their original budget by over $20,000. Showing that potential buyers are at least prepared for what the year ahead may bring.
However it seems that increasing their budget is not the only consideration buyers are making. When asked about what compromises buyers are making it seems many of them are considering other alternatives to their find a suitable home. 62% of those surveyed thought they may need to look ‘further out’ than they originally planned, whilst 55% of people would look for a property of smaller size and 51% would look for a home of lower quality than originally planned.
So while prices are still rising it seems potential buyers out there are prepared to make some sacrifices to get onto the property ladder.
Overall market data such as that provided by propertydata.com.au seems to point to the fact that the prime inner suburban properties will continue to be snapped up, but more humble buyers as shown from the realestateVIEW.com.au survey are willing to move ‘out’ to find something that suits. They may not be getting a house that is as nice as they originally planned or the house as large as they might first have thought, but they know that there are ways to make this work. It seems that demand may not slow; it may just change a little.