Kalgoorlie 
How will the property market perform over the festive season?
In a normal year the property market would likely slow down over December and January as people unwind and enjoy their festive celebrations, but 2020 is a year like no other.
If anything it looks like buying and selling activity will ramp up in the months ahead as people look to take advantage of favourable economic conditions and snap up limited government incentives.
While property prices may have waned this year due to the pandemic, the property market has proved to be remarkably resilient and lockdowns and restrictions seem to have only resulted in a pent up demand for homes.
As restrictions have eased we have seen property prices gradually improve, with CoreLogic data reporting a 0.4 per cent rise in home prices for October 2020, following five months of consistent declines.
All capital cities recorded an increase for the same month, with Melbourne being the only city where values were lower, no doubt due to its extended lockdown.
Conditions are already rapidly improving in Melbourne too though, and both property listings and clearance rates have been on the up since the ban on private home inspections lifted.
Overall, confidence in the Australian property market is incredibly high considering we are only just coming out of a recession.
In fact, according to Westpac’s ‘time to buy a dwelling” index, confidence in the property market is at its highest level since September 2019.
Why it’s such a good time to buy
There are a number of reasons people are racing to get into the market. Chief among them is that money has never been cheaper, with the official cash rate sitting at the historic low of 0.10 per cent.
There’s also a lot of government stimulus on the table, particularly for first-home buyers who have been snatching up places in the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. This has given them the opportunity to get into the market with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent and no need to pay expensive lenders mortgage insurance.
The HomeBuilder scheme has provided another boost to the property market by providing a $25,000 injection for those who build or undergo extensive renovations, however this is due to run out at the end of this year.
On top of this we are seeing Australia’s borders opening up and people moving around the country more. There may be a new kind of ‘normal’ now, but a lot of people are looking ahead and getting on with the business of buying and selling homes while conditions are so good.
