One in Four Homeowners Considering an Investment Purchase
By Peter Sarmas on 15 Jun 2013
No Comments yet, your thoughts are very welcome
More than one quarter (26%) of Australian homeowners are considering buying an investment property, with 56 percent indicating they intend to make the purchase in the next two years, revealed the latest findings from the Mortgage Choice ‘2013 Homeowner Intentions Survey’.
The survey polled the sentiments of over 1,000 Australian mortgage holders on their future investment plans as well as their purchasing strategies. Belinda Williamson, Head of Corporate Affairs at Mortgage Choice, said the survey is a positive reinforcement that investor confidence in bricks and mortar will continue to be robust in the coming years. “It is really positive news for the property market to see a considerable chunk of homeowners weighing up the decision to purchase an investment property in the near future,” said Ms Williamson, who added, “With lenders’ interest rates on both home and investment property loans at their lowest point in recent years, it isn’t altogether surprising.”
According to the survey, when selecting an investment property, over half of the respondents (58.5 per cent) said they preferred to purchase an average property in an up-and-coming area, while just 7.7 per cent of investors said they prefer to renovate their investment for profit.
In addition, when asked to nominate the top factors an investor looks for when choosing an investment property, 65.8 per cent of respondents said picking a suburb that is popular with tenants was the most important. This was closely followed by 65 per cent of investors saying they would choose to target property located in the right suburb and street. Other ranking factors swaying investor choices were a property’s proximity to amenities (52.6 per cent), population growth in the area (46.3 per cent) and the future development in local infrastructure (44.1 per cent).
“If you want to pick a time to get into housing, you can’t get a much better time than now,” said John Symond, Founder of Aussie, who told more than 3000 agents at the Australian Real Estate Conference on the Gold Coast in May, “We have the lowest interest rates on record, which may even go a little lower, and we have seen the housing market bottom, while there is evidence right around Australia that prices are increasing.”
Despite the ideal borrowing conditions, Mr Symond warned investors not to jump into property investment with the goal of a speedy return. “Property isn’t for a quick kill where you buy something today and sell in 12 months; it’s about holding long term, a solid investment and a safe investment.”
