Fear or missing out driving mistakes
Doron Peleg, co-founder of Australia’s first national marketplace for property buyer’s agents BuyersBuyers, says that an ebullient market is often the time when buyers make the most catastrophic mistakes, and property buyers need to beware stepping on minefields.
Mr Peleg said, “when prices are rising quickly, such as we have seen in 2021, there can be a fear of missing out, and this leads homebuyers and investors to take shortcuts on their due diligence”.
“The media has reported in recent weeks buyers missing out on their dream homes due to errors and mistakes on settlement documents, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the possibility of due diligence failures” Mr Peleg said.
Strong price gains in Q3
Housing prices increased 21.7 per cent in the capital cities over the year to September, reported the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported this week, fuelling a sense of missing out.
Figure 1 – Established housing prices
Co-founder of BuyersBuyers Pete Wargent said the top-performing market in the September quarter had been Hobart, with a dramatic 8.2 per cent price increase. Still, many of the capital city markets had experienced strong gains.
Mr Wargent said, “there were strong gains for Sydney at 6.2 per cent, Brisbane at 6.1 per cent, Canberra at 6.1 per cent, and Adelaide at 5.9 per cent”.
“When we see quarterly gains of this magnitude, buyers do tend to become panicked about securing stock more quickly, to avoid missing out on the immediate gains” Mr Wargent said.
“The mean price of dwellings rose $42,000 in the September quarter alone, to $863,700”.
Due diligence is key
Mr Peleg of BuyersBuyers recommends that prospective property buyers use a systematic due diligence process, including engaging an experienced mortgage broker, a solicitor to assist with the conveyancing, and a building and pest survey to ensure no structural or repair issues.
Mr Peleg said, “our national panel of buyer’s agents spend all day every day in the market and negotiating to help you buy the right property at the right price is exactly what they do.”
“It’s well known that changing jobs and moving home are two of the most stressful live events, Australians ever go through.”
“Our buyer’s agents can help, saving you time, cost, and stress. This year activity in the housing market looks set to remain elevated right through until Christmas, with high numbers of listings, and buyers eager to make a purchase before the borders reopen and hundreds of thousands of visa holders become eligible to enter Australia.”
“We only caution that purchasing a property is often the biggest financial decision Aussies ever make Don’t make critical mistakes in the rush to buy something quickly” Mr Peleg said.
