Property industry confidence remains elevated despite setbacks

By Jon Bragg

April 19 2022
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Confidence in residential property has fallen slightly but is still above pre-COVID levels.

A new survey by ANZ and the Property Council of Australia has found that confidence in Australia’s property industry moved slightly lower in the March quarter, while still remaining at historically elevated levels.

The quarterly survey’s confidence index fell five points during the quarter to a score of 137 but remained well above the neutral level of 100.

Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison said that both the forward work and staffing level expectations had increased over the period.

“This means that the property sector – which employs more Australians than any other sector – is set to hire more people and deliver more work, something both sides of politics should welcome as we begin the federal election campaign,” he said.

“Given the extent of turbulence the sector has suffered over the previous quarter, this is a resilient outcome that stays above the historic average.”

Survey respondents highlighted housing supply and affordability as the most critical issues that they would like to see addressed by the federal government over the next year.

“Research from the Property Council of Australia recently revealed almost 70 per cent of voters fear younger people will never be able to buy a home in this country, with 90 per cent of those trying to enter the market indicating it was the most important issue in deciding their vote in the May federal election,” said Mr Morrison.

“Also on the agenda for our members is ESG, with cities and infrastructure delivery, alongside economic management, remaining key issues.”

Residential property confidence dipped in the March quarter but was still stronger than prior to the pandemic, while improving sentiment in the industrial, retail and tourism sectors helped boost confidence in commercial property.

“Industrial property sentiment continues to power ahead, with the strong construction outlook backed up by the sharp lift in building approvals over the last few years,” said ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett.

“The opening of the international borders has buoyed tourism sentiment, lifting it to its highest level since 2018.”

62 per cent of respondents said they expected that the impacts of the pandemic would ease over the next three months while only 5 per cent believe the effects will get worse.

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