First home buyers should always be first, not investors: Tony Perich
One of the biggest Western Sydney land developers, Perich Group managing director Tony Perich, says it would a "disaster" if interest rates were to go up 2-3%.
"If its just 0.5%, I think we will be right," he recently told News Ltd papers.
The official cash rate is currently at a record low 2.5%.
Perich also thinks there are too many investors in the market who are pricing out first home buyers.
"It worries me a lot,’’ he told The Australian when asked about his fears of a potential housing bubble.
"People are going to start to get scared of the market. Are there too many investors in the market? There probably is.
"I worry about investors at times. First-home buyers should always be first in the line and they are not."
Perich, who has just been named the Urban Taskforce Property Person of the Year, said the market was "getting too expensive in a lot of areas".
The Perich family’s Greenfields Development Company has housing lots in Western Sydney, a 50% stake in the Narellan Town Centre, and the 1,100 hectare Oran Park Town project in south-west Sydney.
“What we have tried to do in the west and the south-west in particular is keep the land prices down. They are still very affordable. We haven’t pushed the prices up like everyone else has. You can still buy in our area for a reasonable price," he said.
"We could put a lot higher prices on our blocks and still sell them, but we haven’t.
"So if we can keep it at a sensible price, we think the market will keep coming out there.
"You can buy a block out there for $250,000 to $300,000. The price is going up, but not like it is everywhere else."