‘The big picture’: Analyst weighs in on property post-pandemic
A market analyst has shed light on what’s to come for the national property market beyond the pandemic.
Propertyology’s Simon Pressley has said that while there’s no doubt Australia “will be dealing with significant economic challenges caused by COVID-19 for several years to come”, he has taken concern with the majority of commentators who have a doomsday forecast for national property markets.
“From a property market perspective, COVID-19 is a short-term attack on household incomes,” Mr Pressley said.
“There will be some property market casualties. The most vulnerable to the germ are the locations with the highest mortgages to service and/or the highest rents to pay.
“Other layers of vulnerability to evaluate include localised exposures to overseas migration, international tourism and international students.
“Yes, there have been up to 50 per cent of Australian households who have taken a significant hit to the household budget. But the JobSeeker, JobKeeper and other support packages will be sufficient for the majority of tenants and property owners in affordable locations to ride out this temporary (albeit increasingly unsettling) inconvenience.”
Mr Pressley noted that those who “really want to know what lies ahead for property markets” need to firstly “stop thinking about broad-brush national commentary”.
“There are always numerous factors that influence the supply and the demand side of the property equation. The collective sum of all of these factors will be very different in each of the 185 individual Australian towns and cities,” he said.
“Instead of focusing on what’s happening right now, my focus is on the probable community response as isolation measures progressively relax, along with an expectation that international border closures aren’t permanent!
“I can’t emphasis enough how important it is to have a clear understanding of what the property market fundamentals looked like in each town and city immediately prior to the arrival of COVID-19.”