Confidence in the property market has eased slightly since the previous quarter, an industry survey has revealed.
The latest ANZ/Property Council Survey canvassed the views of more than 1,950 industry respondents on property sales, price growth, construction, industry staffing levels, likely projects and broader economic concerns such as interest rate movements.
The quarterly survey attempts to gauge business sentiment in the property market, attributing a score of 100 to reflect a 'neutral' sentiment, while anything above is, to varying degrees, considered positive and below negative.
For the March 2015 quarter, the total confidence score was 132, which was slightly below that of the December 2014 quarter's score of 135.
Most states reported fairly strong confidence levels. However, when broken down, New South Wales led the way, recording a "rosier outlook" for positive growth with a score of 146, followed by Queensland with 139 and Tasmania, which scored 137. South Australia, Western Australia and the territories each scored much closer to neutral.
The survey found national housing sales and price growth have eased from the mid-2014 peak, but continue to reflect strong home buyer sentiment and solid property market fundamentals.