Buyers are gathering at the start line
If you’ve been following our weekly posts you will already be aware that there are clear signs that the property market in the City of Frankston and beyond looks set to launch with strength as soon as the current restrictions are eased. In fact, some new data from a couple of different sources this week has strengthened this expectation.
Firstly, it is clear that a growing number of homebuyers around Melbourne are using the current lockdown to do extra research on the property market. Based on our recent experience when the first stage of restrictions was eased, along with recent examples of what happened in places like New Zealand when their lockdown was eased, we expect that this increased research will result in a surge in buyers taking decisive action as soon as the restrictions on physical property inspections are eased.
In fact, the latest data from realestate.com.au confirms this trend. Figures from this key real estate portal show that people’s passion for property remains strong despite the unprecedented market conditions we are currently experiencing. Their traffic report shows that a record 12 million Australians visited the website last month, with the average number of views of properties for sale up by 43% compared with the same month last year. That’s a lot of pent-up demand that is set to be released as soon as the current iso-restrictions are eased!
We also saw some data from domain.com.au this week that equally interesting viewing. Whilst you’d expect some search criteria to be impact by the amount of time we are all spending at home lately, you might be surprised just how substantial that change has been in some cases.
For example, between June and July this year, (when more of us were working from home under the lockdown) the searches by Victorians on Domain for homes with a “home office” increased by more than 1100%! In comparison, searches for the same feature in New South Wales only increased by 17%.
Whilst none of us really knows whether this change will continue once the restrictions are eased, it is certainly food for thought for anyone who is keen to make the most of the overall increase in buyer activity by putting their property on the market as soon as the current conditions are eased.
So if you would like to discuss the viability of creating a genuine home office in your current home, or how to make use of our special Exclusive Preview program to give you a head start on the Spring market, don’t hesitate to give the team at Barry Plant Frankston on 9781 3100.
Best wishes,
Barry Plant Real Estate
Frankston & Cranbourne