BUYER CONFIDENCE

THERE’S A LOT OF COMMENTARY arising from the Southern media outlets regarding the health of real estate within Australia, and it’s probably fair to say that this is causing a great deal of angst amongst buyers, sellers and renters.

Coupled with near daily messages of bruising interest rate rises at the hands of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), and it feels all consuming. We have seen this before. We have managed this before.

It seems all gloom and doom, when in fact, the truth is that the property market is in a better state of health than it was before the recent COVID induced mini-boom, but with one significant and powerful exception, buyer confidence, which is highly reflective of overall consumer confidence.

Understandably, potential buyers and sellers are hesitant to make a decision, and have been frightened into inaction after eight consecutive interest rate hikes, even after the RBA announced that rates wouldn't increase until 2024.

Global inflation is out of the RBA's hands, but protecting the Australian economy is a necessary and challenging task.

With that, comes some expected pain in particular segments of the property market. Pundits predict we'll see a couple more interest rate hikes in 2023.

The RBA have been quite transparent about this, but thankfully for the Gold Coast region, it's unlikely that market conditions will deteriorate. Let me explain why.

- The region is experiencing strong population growth with a record low unemployment rate at 3.5%.

- We have critically low vacancy rates at 0.6%, creating a shortage of supply for both rentals and sales.

- The much-covered rental crisis is a major socioeconomic and political cause for concern, which may trigger policy change that results in investor buy-in and return of rental stock to the market.

- There is a distinct lack of high-quality homes on the market, which creates strong competition amongst buyers, albeit with this change in dynamic, buyers are far more discerning.

- The consistent interstate and international migration, with active buyers, will continue to influence prices on the Gold Coast, which we believe will, in turn, buoy the market and flatten the sharp decrease in prices seen in other major cities.

- Global and local supply chain issues are expected to improve, which will contribute to stabilisation of inflation.

We can thus expect interest rates to stabilise, with an improvement in consumer confidence and a subsequent increase in buyer activity.

The Gold Coast property market is healthy, and unless we see an increase in the amount of quality properties coming to market, we can expect stable prices with the very likely prospect of increasing prices and demand far exceeding supply.

There's no need to panic, and at this time you would be served to align yourself with consistent, stable and experienced agents, such as our team at Phillis Real Estate Queensland, who can guide you to ensure your property is highly attractive to very discerning and conscientious buyers. preqld.com.au