Cross-posted from Martin North’s DFA blog.
Today we look at property investor trends in our household surveys series. We have been following the strong growth in investment lending, so was interested to see what property investors were thinking. Their appetite to invest appears to be slowing as we showed in our earlier post:
Looking at those who are thinking about transacting, we find they are still attracted by the potential appreciation of property values, and the tax efficient nature of these investments. Low finance rates are a little less important, whilst getting returns better than deposits was up.
Turning to the SMSF property investment area, the drivers are quite similar, although the potential for tax efficient investments is significant. They are also attracted by the leverage they can obtain. 
We have seen some interesting shifts relating to where potential SMSF property investors are getting their advice. The role of real estate agents has diminished in recent months (perhaps in reaction to the strong warnings from ASIC?) whilst mortgage brokers and internet forums and other sites have become more significant. We also see increasing personal knowledge guiding the trustees.
Our last data point relates to the proportion of superannuation which is aligned to residential or commercial property. The most significant move was in the 10-20% range.
