Investor activity to gather pace
Warmer weather and favourable investment conditions should ignite investor activity in the property market, according to national mortgage broking group Mortgage Choice.
“According to RP Data, seasonally, Australia typically sees higher than average property activity from September through to November,” Mortgage Choice spokesperson Kristy Sheppard said today.
“This year should be no exception despite a possible lag effect from the hung parliament.”
Ms Sheppard said there were already more properties on the market than usual for the time of year, which combined with plateauing or dropping property prices, increasing rental prices, strong population growth, rising consumer sentiment and ongoing instability in the share market, was good news for prospective investors.
Ms Sheppard warned however that budding investors should prepare for interest rate movements.
“The cash rate will probably remain stable for the next couple of months but many lenders are signalling that funding costs may force them to raise borrowing costs independently of the RBA’s rate cycle.”
“It will be interesting to see how many Australian investors spring into the property market over the next quarter and what effect, if any, lender rate rises will have.”