Bank forecasts increasing FOMO among buyers
Once again this week we saw homebuyers showing a fair degree of nervous energy in their efforts to buy a property in the bayside suburbs.
There is no doubt that one of the key factors that is driving the property market in the City of Frankston and surrounding suburbs is a fear of missing out, (or FOMO as it is often referred to nowadays), as people keep reading about the growing number of forecasters who are tipping that prices will continue to rise in response to ongoing imbalance between high buyer numbers and low supply of properties for sale.
Of course, the news that broke during the week that the ANZ Bank has updated its forecasts for the Australian property market wouldn’t have helped. If you missed the news, the ANZ is the latest of the Big Four to predict big increases in real estate values this year, saying that they expect prices to rise by 16 per cent in Melbourne by the end of 2021.
Of course, this new forecast provides a vastly different outlook to the types of forecasts that economists were making this time last year, with many of them talking about decreases of between 10 and 20 per cent in house prices!
What we have seen since then is the impact of record low interest rates along with the upgrading of Government incentives, (particularly for first home buyers), more than offsetting the potential drawbacks of higher unemployment and decreased population growth.
As a result, the past year has seen a big increase in housing finance numbers, strong auction clearance rates and rising consumer confidence levels, particularly where the property market is concerned. These are the factors that the Banks are tracking in predicting that property prices will be picking up so strongly over the next year or so.
Whether you have much faith in the crystal ball gazing of economists or not, there is no doubt that a lot of homebuyers are concerned by what may happen if the current levels of competition continue. As result, buyers are increasingly prepared to make offers or bids at auction at higher levels than they might have previously, rather than having to raise their budget even higher in the coming months.
Conditions like these make the current market a prime time to be a seller. So if you would like an update on how much more your property could achieve in the current climate, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Barry Plant Frankston this week on 9781 3100.
Cheers,
Barry Plant Real Estate
Frankston & Cranbourne