Home purchaser sentiment remains positive among residents across Greater Sydney, despite concerns around housing supply and affordability, according to the recent Home Purchaser Sentiment Survey released by the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA NSW) and Urbis.

Overall Sentiment:

The survey – conducted in May 2021 prior to lockdown – shows overall sentiment remains positive. Despite a rise in negative sentiment since the last survey in November 2020,  46% of people expressed overall positive sentiment in the current market.

In terms of reaction to the current house price surge, of the 1074 people interviewed aged 21 and over, 60% of Sydney residents expect prices to be higher in 6 months, compared to previous surveys going back to July 2019, around 24% of residents thought prices would be higher in 6 months’ time.

“People are rightly concerned about affordability. It is no longer just a Sydney problem, the regions are suffering too with greater than 20% price increases in the past 12 months. We need to build more homes to put downward pressure on prices across NSW. The future housing supply pipeline is inadequate. The government has taken its eye off the ball and we recommend it takes action to increase land supply, fund enabling infrastructure and removing other barriers to supply, such as foreign investor surcharges, slow precinct planning and an overly complex planning system.”  said Steve Mann, CEO, UDIA NSW.

Purchasing Intent:

One in three Sydney residents still indicated they would be likely to purchase property in the next 18 months, which has remained steady since the first survey in July 2019.

21% of respondents are likely to purchase a property for owner occupation in 18 months.

When looking at the breakdown in demographics of respondents, family households and residents 25-34 years had greater intentions to purchase.

Preferred Suburbs:

Urbis Associate Director Kylie Newcombe says, “The survey also canvassed where people would look to buy, and the top 5 suburbs over the last two surveys were Parramatta, Chatswood, Cronulla, Sydney and Strathfield,” said Ms. Newcombe.

Parramatta and Chatswood have consistently been favoured. The reasons for this are the high level of amenity, including retail and transport connections.

Parramatta is on the move and the amenity will only increase, which attracts potential residents. Cronulla obviously provides an enviable lifestyle as do many other beach suburbs which feature highly in the surveys.

Moving Outward:

A first time question in this  survey looked to capture sentiment in the current economic environment about the  impact of COVID-19, which saw 33% of Sydney residents expressing an interest in moving outwards in the next 12 months to the edges of Sydney or to the Regions.

Sydney residents aged 25-34 renting and living in Parramatta, the Inner West and Outer South West and first home buyers,  were the highest demographic expressing interest in moving. It would be fair to say that the desire to move outward has been driven by the increase in the option to work from home and residents becoming more attracted to regional areas, many of which have thrived through COVID.

“It is clear that people in NSW still have faith in the resilience of the NSW property market and the importance of securing a home that meets their needs. It will be interesting to see how sentiment is further affected by COVID and lockdowns over the next few months. Our next survey will be conducted at the end of the year.” said Steve Mann.

The full report can be found here.

ENDS

Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au.
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