With the easing of pandemic restrictions, interest surged in June, returning to levels last seen in March, when prices rose 13 per cent in Sydney and 12 per cent in Melbourne. The Bundesbank’s latest index of households’ willingness to spend shows that home-buying intentions, which collapsed in the early days of the covid-19 restrictions, have risen by 6% in a month. The index rose to a near record high in March and then fell in April as the economic shutdown severely affected home buying activity.
Alan Hemmings, a mortgage broker at Homeloanexperts.com.au, said mortgage information for home buyers had been increasing since mid-May. “Over the past two months, our overall volume of inquiries has increased by almost 100 per cent and even more when HomeBuilder’s policy was announced in June,” Mr Hemmings said. “In just the last four weeks, we’ve recorded an almost threefold increase in first-time home buyer inquiries compared to April 2020.” “But I think the June data tells us that people who still have jobs are willing to take advantage of very low interest rates to get into the market.” CBA has forecast a 10 per cent fall in house prices in April as a result of the outbreak, but it recently noted that the sharp reduction in mortgage rates had largely offset other pressures on residential prices.
