Cash-strapped property investors dump apartments

With prices and rents diving, property investors are dumping their shoe-box apartments, according to new data from Domain:

Domain data shows that between the four weeks to May 17 and the four weeks to June 14, apartment listings rose by 27 per cent in Melbourne and were up by 15 per cent in Brisbane and 37 per cent in Perth.

New apartment listings jumped by 43 per cent in Adelaide and were up by 4 per cent in Canberra.

Domain’s senior research analyst, Nicola Powell, said the trend could be a sign investors are moving on.

“The shift seemed to be concentrated in Sydney at the moment. Perhaps we are starting to see some investors choosing to offload their property because of the disruption in the rental market,” Dr Powell said.

“If landlords can’t weather this COVID-19 storm, can’t secure a tenant and can’t get that cashflow through this period, we could see an increase in apartments coming onto the market as investors try to sell up.”

Seriously, who can blame them?

Rental vacancies are soaring across inner city areas:

Investors are also caught in a pincer between falling property prices and rents. They are also facing an vortex of headwinds, including:

• Widespread job and income losses;
• Collapsing immigration and international student numbers;
• A flood of supply as the large apartment construction pipeline is completed and Airbnbs are dumped onto the long-term rental market; and
• The expiry of emergency income support and mortgage deferrals from late-September.

The logical think to do is to sell before the situation gets even worse.

Pass the popcorn…