Australians still fear the property market has further to fall: NAB

The number of consumers who don’t think will be a good time to sell their home or investment property continues to out-weigh those who think it is, according to a new survey. 

NAB's latest Australian Consumer Anxiety Survey for Q2 2019 noted these results suggest many consumers still think the housing downturn could still have more to run.

In net terms, +32% said they thought now was a good time to buy a property to live in and +34% to renovate their home.

With house prices continuing to fall across the country, consumers who thought it wasn’t a good time to sell their home (-35%) or investment property (-33%) also continued to significantly out-weigh those who thought it was a good time to sell.

However, the net number who thought so was somewhat lower than in the previous quarter, suggesting that some consumers may believe the market is close to the bottom.

With downward pressures on interest rates, it also noted a large increase in the net number of consumers who thought it was a good time to get a mortgage on their home (+13).

Source: NAB Anxiety Report Q2 2019

On balance, slightly more consumers (+29%) believe it will be a good time to buy a property to live in over the next 12 months (+25% in Q1 2019), and +24% to renovate their home (+23% in Q1 2019).

The number of consumers who don’t think it will be a good time to sell their home (-15%) or investment property (-14%) continues to out-weigh those who think it is - but this has fallen since Q1 2019, suggesting more consumers are expecting market conditions to improve.

With widespread speculation for further interest rate cuts in 2019, those who think it will be a good time to take out a mortgage a mortgage for their own home (+10) also rose.

Source: NAB Anxiety Report Q2 2019

Consumer intentions around property are still overwhelming conservative.

The net number of consumers who said they didn’t intend to sell investment property (-83%), renovate an investment property (-81%), take out an investment loan (-79%), sell their home (-78%), buy investment property (-75%), take out a home loan (-74%) or sell the home they live in (-66%) far outweighed those who said they would.

Consumers were least negative about renovating their homes (-49%). Intentions remain overwhelmingly negative and conservative in all states - see table below.

Source: NAB Anxiety Report Q2 2019