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Homebuyers undeterred by record prices

John KidmanAAP
Despite record prices Australians still want to buy their own home, research suggests.
Camera IconDespite record prices Australians still want to buy their own home, research suggests. Credit: AAP

Despite expectations Australia's capital city house prices will continue to skyrocket, prospective buyers still see themselves 'in the game'.

Market sentiment has lifted to an unprecedented high, according to NAB's latest quarterly residential property survey.

Economists at the 'big four' bank forecast prices in Australia's major centres to swell 19 per cent for 2021 and a further four per cent next year.

Even so, a national survey by comparison site Finder indicates almost three million Australians plan to buy property in the next six months.

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Seven per cent of the 1015 respondents said they were looking for an investment property and another seven per cent want to buy a home.

The poll also suggests more than five million Australians would take the plunge during the remainder of 2021 if they could afford to.

While low interest rates and strong income support have propelled the 2021 boom, NAB believe their impact may already have started to fade.

It's an assertion supported by the latest ABS figures showing the number of first-buyer loans dropping for the fourth consecutive month.

However Finder home loans spokeswoman Sarah Megginson said financial preparedness remains key to prospective buyers getting a foot in the door.

"In a hot property market it's understandable that many are worried about affordability and getting priced out of the market," she said.

"Fortunately there are many ways to enter the market and it's not a race."

NAB argues government incentives have been only "moderately significant" in helping first-home buyers into the market sooner but Ms Megginson said they can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Finder found 27 per cent of Millennials are in the market for a new home or investment property, compared to 17 per cent of Gen Z, nine per cent of Gen X and four per cent of Baby Boomers in the next six months.

CoreLogic's Property Market Indicator Summary shows there were 1849 homes taken to auction across capital cities last week.

That was down from the initial 2153 expected with Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in COVID-19 lockdown.

However this time last year, 1326 capital city homes were taken to auction.

Of the 1509 of last week's results tallied on Monday, 74.8 per cent were successful, down from the previous week's preliminary clearance rate of 76.3 per cent but well beyond the 54.1 per cent of reported successful auctions for the same week in 2020.

Longer term, CoreLogic's figures for the three months to June show 31,605 capital city homes taken to auction, marking the busiest quarter in three-and-a-half years. Results were also robust.

"A combined capital city clearance rate of 75.7 per cent sits well above the historic average clearance rate of 63.5 per cent," head researcher Eliza Owen said.

"The strong result also coincided with a 6.2 per cent uplift in dwelling values across the combined capitals, well above the previous decade average quarterly growth rate of one per cent."

Even so, Ms Owen said there had been a recent easing of clearance rates which likely indicated the March quarter (80 per cent) as the peak period for the current property cycle.

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