‘Shift to property’: Advice to Aussie investors

“People will always need a home, whether they are buying or renting. And, yes, pricing can fluctuate relative to the current market conditions; this is the same for any asset class. At least with property, you can lease it, live in it or divest it, and it has two revenue streams: potential for capital growth and rental income,” Mr Wilson said.

“Additionally, if we look at the history of the inner-city market of Sydney, pricing has generally remained relatively stable, with minor declines in softer markets, and growth has always remained stable – if not been stronger – than perhaps any other market in the country in periods of momentum.

“Of course, it’s difficult for buyers to guess the timing of the market perfectly and pick the bottom, but the feedback we have had from purchasers transacting in the past month have commented that they are taking a medium/long-term view and believe that the current market presents some great buying opportunities with potentially less competition to secure premium property.”

Adding to this, Mr Wilson noted: “Our advice to buyers is: don’t wait too long. Many buyers got caught out recently when the market took a turn and spiked in November-December last year and ended up chasing the market upwards against more buyer competition in a booming market.

“The same could happen again very quickly in the coming months. If you have medium/long-term property goals, now could be a very good time to start rethinking your next property purchase.”

Mr Wilson’s comments come after real estate expert Tom Panos and Phil Tarrant discussed how property is an asset class being looked after by the federal government amid COVID-19 on the new Facebook Live/podcast series, What’s Making Headlines.

“Look at what the government has done,” Mr Tarrant put to Mr Panos.

“They haven’t intervened and tried to support other asset classes. You don’t see them saying, ‘Your wine collection has gone down 25 per cent, let’s try help you out’. You look at the sharemarket, you don’t see a lot of stuff coming out of that, [in comparison to what’s come out about the real estate market].

“This is a message for property investors; it’s a message for mortgage brokers, and it’s a message for real estate agents and property managers as well: The government wants real estate in Australia to achieve and keep driving forward.

“The banks are highly invested in real estate in Australia. Real estate is always going to have huge support from the government, from the regulators, and the banks are highly connected in making sure the values of real estate in Australia are maintained.”

Mr Panos offered a similar sentiment, noting that he believes property prices won’t drop too much during the pandemic as there aren’t “forced sellers” at the moment.

“The reason why is because unemployment, while it will grow, you’ve still got the government that’s actually gone off and paid people $750 a week to keep their job. You also have the banks that are saying, ‘Don’t pay us your loan now’. I actually spoke to someone who said they’re better off at the moment in terms of cash flow,” he said.

“I actually think what will happen is you’ve got the government working in cahoots with the banks. It’s making it very, very hard for distressed sales to take place.

“But I do think that there is going to be some sector of the market, and it could be people, particularly people who have been linked to the sharemarket that have got all their financial wealth in the sharemarket… people like that might offload their property, their Central Coast getaway home, the Byron Bay unit they had – some of those things might come on the market.”