COVID-inspired first-time buyers rush to fill the property gap

Nearly half of millennials looking to purchase a home believe the pandemic has helped them move closer to their property-buying goals.

An ING-commissioned survey of about 1,000 prospective home buyers shows that a third of millennials intend to enter the housing market before 2022.

At the same time, luxury home prices in Melbourne have buckled as the virus-induced downturn slashes demand from overseas migrants, racking up a 1.3 per cent loss in values in May alone, or a 15.6 per cent drop on an annualised basis.

In Sydney, values of homes worth more than $1.35 million slipped by 0.6 per cent or 7.2 per cent on an annualised basis, the latest CoreLogic analysis shows.

And Sydney’s middle-market declined 0.4 per cent while the lowest value homes even showed a slight increase of 0.1 per cent.

As a result, one mortgage group has reported home loan enquiries from the first home buyer segment have spiked over June, up 219 per cent from the previous corresponding period.

And recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows first-time buyers continue to make up around a third of that owner-occupier home loan demand.

The latest ABS data for April also shows demand from first home buyers was around 20 per cent higher than the most recent low point in December 2018.

Many lenders are aggressively targeting the first home-owner market.  If you want to understand what special offers are available, please contact your Origin broker on 1300 30 67 67, or contact us here.