“This is a surprising result that sentiment has held up, when considering the challenges facing families who are feeling the pinch with rising interest rates, escalating food and energy prices, together with lack of supply and an affordability crisis,” said Steve Mann, CEO, UDIA NSW.

“The results of our survey have shown that despite the fact that the single biggest item in household budgets, whether you own or rent – is the cost of a roof over your head, our optimism toward the property market shows signs of returning slowly to the pre- pandemic levels,” he added.

Source UDIA NSW/URBIS Home Purchaser Sentiment Surveys 2019-2022

“One of the fundamentals of the Sydney property market is that it is seen as robust regardless of the external factors, which explains the consistent positive sentiment toward purchasing,” said Kylie Newcombe, Associate Director, Economics and Property at URBIS.

“Sydney is not seen to be as vulnerable to the fluctuations as the other states and therefore we don’t see as many major corrections in this market. Strong consistent demand seems to play into these results,” she said.

In this survey we introduced an additional question asking respondents what they thought would most improve access to, and the affordability of housing?

Although the younger demographic expressed some support for first homeowner grants, there was a resounding 65% of respondents who said that building more houses will put downward pressure on housing prices and allow people to access the market.

Another fascinating finding is that those who have never owned a home before, ranked the first homebuyer grant provisions at third of the five options presented, in terms of the solution to affordability.

“While it was good to see in the recent NSW Budget, the Government focusing its efforts on an approach that will put downward pressure on housing affordability…we need to take a longer-term focus on finding solutions to housing supply, so that the positive sentiment we have seen toward purchasing, can turn the homeownership dream into a reality for the people of Sydney and NSW,” said Mr Mann.

The full UDIA NSW/URBIS Home Purchaser Sentiment Survey Report can be found here

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