With Australians currently spending much of our time at home, attention has certainly shifted online. So it is no surprise that realestate.com.au have reported an enormous surge in property searches in the last month.
It seems we are using our downtime wisely too: doing our research, monitoring the property market’s response and planning our next property move.
It is expected that the property market will recover strongly post coronavirus, and so those who are looking to purchase now are likely to see themselves positioned at an advantage as Australia opens back up.
Westwood, a premier residential community of 971 land lots has continued to sell strongly throughout the coronavirus lockdown, and is on target to receive over 200 enquiries for the month of May. Interest at Westwood has been so strong in fact, that the sales team have hit their 6-month target a month early, with no signs of slowing down.
The market outlook for those looking to purchase now is uniquely optimistic. Corelogic has reported a record high 10.7% increase on house and unit values in Melbourne in the year to March 2020. Combine this with historically low cash rates and one can see that this is a rare window of opportunity for buyers.
“We are hearing time and again from purchasers that they are buying now to position themselves ahead of Australia opening back up after coronavirus. They are taking advantage of the historically low-interest rates and the reliability of the capital appreciation of the emerging suburbs around the Fraser Rise area” says Michael Ching, Dahua’s sales manager overseeing Westwood.
Realestate.com.au reported increased activity online with considerably higher “for sale” searches than this time last year, and in the final week of April, the site saw 37% increased activity as compared to the same time last year. While the search activity increased across all states and territories, realestate.com.au reported the greatest increase of all from Victoria – Melbourne being the nation’s largest new housing market.
In keeping with this trend of surging online activity, Westwood has seen incredible growth in its own online visitation with a whopping 170% increase in website page views from February to April 2020. It is widely acknowledged that real estate is traditionally the first industry to bounce back after a time of crisis, and it is envisaged that the current coronavirus crisis will be no exception. Australia’s demand for housing means the residential property sector is likely to return stronger than ever.
Unsurprisingly searches on properties with gardens and green space have been of particular interest to us during this period of isolation. With all our time being spent at home, we have become increasingly house proud. So it is no wonder that Dahua’s Westwood project at Fraser Rise has recorded strong sales with a 62% sales increase from the last quarter. The planned abundant green space and landscaped parkland in Westwood offer a much-coveted family-friendly lifestyle.
