As discussed Ive been buying however the majority seem to be waiting according to article and survey results.
Its that herd mentality again.
Majella Corrigan
June 29, 2009 01:55pm INVESTORS may be waiting until first-homebuyers leave before they enter the residential market, but when they return they will face a changed rental market.
Mortgage broker Mortgage Choice last week said three out of four Australians who were planning to buy an investment property in the next two years were waiting until the First Home Owners Boost expires.
Seventy-six per cent of the 1038 respondents to the 2009 Property Investors Survey say they are delaying a purchase until the scheme finishes at the end of December this year.
The survey says competition from first-home buyers has been so intense since late last year that investors have stepped back but are setting up their finances to buy next year and in 2011.
Forty-four per cent who plan to buy an investment property in the next two years are generation X, 27 per cent are generation Y and 28 per cent baby boomers.
Sixty-four per cent already own a home, while 20 per cent plan to buy a home and investment property in the next two years.
Thirteen per cent plan to enter the market for the first time, forgoing their first-home buyers grant to buy an investment property before a home.
But prospective investors, whatever their age or experience, should also realise that the days of double-digit rental growth are over.
While vacancy rates are still tight, they are easing in many areas across the country.
Industry commentator Michael Matusik says that during the past five years or so landlords have had to do little to generate strong rental growth.
With first-home buyers and investors priced out or finding returns unacceptable during that time, the shortage of stock often drove up weekly rents by more than 10 per cent a year.
But now renters are leaving to buy their first homes and, in some locations where unemployment is high and rising, vacancy rates have almost doubled this year.
Matusik says the rental market is more evenly balanced than it was six months ago and rental growth is likely to slow.
