- 9.8% of respondents had purchased property during the pandemic
- Foreign ownership, low interest rates and oversaturated investment market have been blamed for increased prices
- Almost a third of respondents said they were under 'mortgage stress'
A survey recently conducted by Savvy has revealed 91.6% of Australians believe current property prices are becoming ‘unaffordable’.
905 Australians were surveyed as part of Savvy’s Housing Affordability and sentiment Survey 2020-21 regarding their attitudes and behaviours towards the Australian housing market.
9.8% said they had purchase property during the pandemic with 27.6% stating they were considering the prospect of buying within the next twelve months.
32.9% said they were “very worried” about the current housing market in terms of being out of reach for the average Australian. 39.3% said they were “worried”, meaning the total portion of worries was 72.2% – almost three-quarters.
For those holding off on buying, 33.2% said they were still saving for a deposit with another 32.4% adding they generally couldn’t afford to purchase a property. 14.6% said they were waiting to “ride out” the pandemic. By contrast, 28.6% said they were concerned if they didn’t buy soon, they could be left behind.
Additionally, 21% said they would be prepared to relocate to a regional or rural area.
Foreign ownership was cited as the most popular reason why respondents felt that property was becoming so out of reach for many Australians. 20.3% cited record-low interest rates while 18.6% felt it was caused by an oversaturated investment market.
Bill Tsouvalas, Savvy’s Managing Director, said the findings should be a cause for concern.
“We’ve had a general feeling that the housing market is out of reach for Australians, but it seems that COVID-19 and other measures such as HomeBuilder and the First Home Buyer Deposit Scheme has still left most would-be home buyers worried if they don’t buy now, they’ll be shut out forever.”
Bill Tsouvalas, Savvy Managing Director
When asked if measures such as JobKeeper and the JobSeeker supplement had any real impact on the housing market, just over a third said they believe the end of this stimulus will drive prices down.
29.8% said they would willing to allocate 20% of household income to home loan repayments with a quarter saying they would be willing to commit to 30%.
Rather staggeringly, 20.6% said they would be prepared to devote over 30% – a proportion of income that is labelled as “mortgage stress” in the finance industry.
Just over a quarter (26.9%) said they are currently experiencing such mortgage stress.
“The fact that almost a third of people are in mortgage stress is also alarming; it could be prelude to a much bigger crash.”
Bill Tsouvalas, Savvy Managing Director
