The real estate market in New South Wales, Australia, is booming according to local real estate agents there, but less than one in five expect the current market conditions to continue for the rest of this year.
The bi-annual survey from Which Real Estate Agent surveyed Australian real estate agents to gauge their views on the Australian property market. Together they have interacted with more than 400,000 potential property buyers and investors during the last 12 months.
A total of 47 percent of agents in New South Wales said their local market was booming, followed by 24 percent in Western Australia. These sentiments fell to just 18 percent and 12 percent respectively when they were asked if the boom would continue in 2014.
The survey predicted a possible peak in the market as agents were forecasting reduced growth this year in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia when compared with 2013.
The survey also revealed that women call the shots when selling real estate. A total of 32 percent of Australia’s top real estate agents see women as the primary decision maker when selling property versus only four percent of agents seeing males taking charge.
It also found that real estate agents are among Australia’s hardest working professionals, despite their generally negative reputation. The average survey respondent works more than 60 hours per week, putting them amongst the top 10 percent of Australians for hours worked according to government data.
Which Real Estate Agent’s Managing Director Thomas Roberts said: “The theme from this national survey appears to be that agents on the whole forecast continued strong growth for the Australian property market in 2014, with 84 percent of agents forecasting growth rates above five percent.
"Australia’s leading agents appear to be making the most of the buoyant market working on average more than 60 hours a week. This, however, comes at a cost with almost half the respondents saying that managing their work life balance was one of their major concerns.”
Image: Sydney, New South Wales.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group,
wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
Recent stories you may have missed:
Singapore home prices fell 0.9% in 2013: report
Bitcoin buyer snaps up Bali villa
Chinese in rush to sell Hong Kong homes
UK property tax loophole closed
If you have a property story you want us to publish email: andrew@propertyguru.com.sg