Distressed property listings to grow in 2012

The number of distressed properties put up for sale in 2012 is expected to climb, thanks to continuing struggles facing property owners and an entrenched hesitancy from potential buyers to jump into the market, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.

Overall distressed real estate listings soared 30% in Australia in 2011 compared with 2010, according to Colliers International research.

More than half of the 775 distressed properties advertised in 2011 were in Queensland.

“You have a significant number of properties not sold coming into the market in 2012, and there's more coming on,” chief executive of listed property valuer LandMark White Brad Piltz told the AFR. 

A second source told the AFR that interest in buying distressed properties is slowly gaining pace as investors increasingly warm to the view that in some markets prices have bottomed out.

In a separate report, the AFR said that Australian housing prices were unlikely to experience a major slump in 2012, citing ANZ Research.

ANZ holds the view that market fundamentals remain supportive, although prices are likely to be flat or slightly negative.

“While housing construction continues to weaken under the cloud of negative market sentiment and softening prices, forward indicators suggest the recent slowdown in net overseas migration will continue to reverse,” ANZ said, according to the AFR.

This article originally appeared on Business Spectator.