With this in mind, we thought it might be timely to look back at some of the effects that the past two years have had on the property market, particularly the trends that no-one expected.

For example, if you were to travel back in time to exactly two years ago…the middle of March in 2019…and someone told you that Australian home values were going to increase by an average of more than 24 per cent in the coming two years, despite the impact of various lockdowns, would you have believed them? Highly unlikely we would have said.

Or with the knowledge that that so many people were going to have their jobs “put on ice” for various extended periods, would you have believed that we would see a marked spike in activity from first home buyers, reaching a peak in January 2021? Data from the ABS shows that as of January 2022, loans to first homebuyers numbered just short of 11,000 which is well above the decade average of under 8,700. Clearly the combination of record low interest rates and increased Government assistance had an impact.

Of course, one trend that caught many people by surprise was the increase in the number of Australians moving out of the metropolitan areas to regional centres, encouraged by the move to ‘work from home’ opportunities as the pandemic raged. How this concept will evolve now that many businesses in the CBD are actively encouraging their staff to return to the office remains to be seen, but there are certainly quite a few commentators who are suggesting that it will be difficult to “put the genie back in the bottle” after two years of adjustment.

Add in the recent increases in rents, the rise in the price gap between houses and units and the increase in the average mortgage loan and it all adds up to a remarkable degree of change in a relatively short period of time, doesn’t it.

Perhaps the most important message to come from all this is that if you are making plans for the year ahead, make sure you are doing it with the most up-to-date information available. So if you’d like an update on what your own property is worth after all these changes, even if it’s just to be sure that you have sufficient insurance coverage on the house, why not give us a call during the week at Barry Plant Gladstone Park on 9330 1088.

We’re always happy to help.

Regards,

Nick Pugliese - Sales Director

and Bill Karp - Director

Barry Plant Real Estate

Gladstone Park