First home buyers looking for price growth
Investors aren’t alone in prioritising capital growth when looking for property.
Investors aren’t alone in prioritising capital growth when looking for property.A new survey by St.George Bank has found first home buyers focus on properties with the potential for capital growth. While the first home buyers surveyed ranked affordability as their primary concern, potential for future growth was ranked second.
First-time buyers ranked distance from work third in priority, distance from shops and attractions fourth and distance from family and friends fifth.
St.George general manager for retail banking Ross Miller said the survey demonstrated that first home buyers understood the magnitude of the investment they were making when buying a home.
“Buying a first home is more than buying a roof over your head. Our home is usually our biggest financial investment and over the last few decades we have seen a sharp increase in the value of the average Australian home,” Miller said.
But first-time buyers weren’t always able to find a home that suited all their preferences, the survey found, with 26.4% saying they had to compromise to buy their home. Nearly half of respondents (49.8%) said they compromised on location, while 45.7% compromised on price.
The report comes on the heels of the Melbourne Institute’s Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) report, which predicted that rising house prices could lock younger Australians out of the market and see the home ownership rate fall below 50%.
