Simon Parker
Investment property is a key buying priority over the next 12 months for more than half the respondents of a property consultant group's home owner survey, while 43 per cent expected house prices to fall during the same period.
“The message from this survey is that despite all the negative sentiment, many Australians are still keen to take advantage of the current market and buy their first home, upgrade their current home or buy an investment property," said Michael Yardney, director at Metropole Property Strategists, the company responsible for the survey.
The online survey, which received responses from almost 2,200 home owners, revealed the key concerns for prospective property investors centred on obtaining finance (28 per cent), economic uncertainty (25 per cent) and negative cash flow (24 per cent).
A large number of respondents said they would be willing to make sacrifices in order to buy property, the company said.
"They see the current buyer's market as a time of opportunity, even though they do not expect property values to rise strongly this year. More than half think there will be little (20 per cent) or no growth (34 per cent) in property values over the next year," Mr Yardney said.
Around 28 per cent of respondents believed Sydney would show the best capital growth in the next 12 months, followed by Melbourne and Brisbane. Perth, Adelaide, 'mining towns' and regional Australia ranked low on investors' radars.
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