Australians positive about property
The majority of Australians are optimistic about the economy and believe the property market will be positive in the years ahead, according to a new survey by the Credit Union of Australia (CUA).
The 'Borrowing and Investments Intentions Survey', conducted by Auspoll, found that 58 per cent of the 1507 Australians surveyed felt confident the economy would remain strong over the next 12 months.
Speaking to Smart Property Investment, CUA’s group general manager, strategy and marketing Andrew Hadley, said the study showed that Australians were still planning to invest in property in the year ahead.
“We found that of half the people looking to [obtain finance] in the next 12 months, more than 50 per cent are actually looking at acquiring property, whether that be investor or owner occupied,” Mr Hadley said.
“Certainly consumers are being cautious, they’ve saved their pennies up over a period of time, but what we found was that six in 10 people see the property market as being positive in the years ahead,” he said.
“Less than two in 10 believed there would be a further decline in property prices.”
The CUA survey was conducted in response to recent negative media reports about the state of the economy and consumer sentiment.
“One of the things that is prevalent in the market at the moment is all the doom and gloom we’re hearing about Europe on a knife edge and all the bad stories coming out of the US,” Mr Hadley said.
“We wanted to go out and test the Australian public and find out whether that really was the case.”
Mr Hadley said the positive results of the survey have encouraged CUA to ramp up its service offering in the New Year.