Consumer uncertainty and ongoing interest rate hikes have seen buyers and renters sticking to their own backyards.
Little Hinges’ Sight Unseen Report for March showed the percentage of interstate buyer and rental inspections has dropped in almost all major cities around Australia for the first time in the past 12 months.
The two exceptions were Sydney, with a 0.4% increase in interstate buyer inspections and the Gold Coast which saw a slight increase in interstate rental inspections, up by 0.3% in March.
Little Hinges CMO, Mike York, said “while we’re still seeing almost 1 in 4 inspections coming from outside the state the property is located in, it’s clear that the uncertainty in the market is affecting both renters and buyers.
“This uncertainty has resulted in a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, with more people wanting to stay close to home, or holding off on their decision to make big interstate moves.
“With April being the first month we’ve seen interest rates stay on hold after nine consecutive rate rises, we may see inspection trends bounce back this month, or this may be the new normal for the foreseeable future.”
Despite these drops, 37% of buyer inspections on the Gold Coast and 30% of inspections on the Sunshine Coast were still coming from outside Queensland.
International buyers continue to be interested in Australian properties, particularly with recently announced changes to international migration programs.
The percentage of international buyers looking to purchase in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast increased by 1.6%, equating to thousands of additional prospective buyers in Queensland alone.
Little Hinges analysed over 300,000 virtual inspections for the Sight Unseen report released for March.
