Perennial housing bull, Peter Switzer, has turned bearish on Australian property, warning that Melbourne’s lockdown “will see house prices fall faster than they currently are”:
“You have to expect consumer confidence and business confidence will fall, therefore business investment falls and then house prices will fall faster than they currently are…
“Specifically Victoria, Because it’s difficult to sell if you cant get people to go to open houses and the fear factor is getting bigger…
“The last five weeks in a row, confidence has fallen and it is all linked to the lockdown. Putting a question mark over the rest of the economy.”
Peter Switzer should be bearish. The headwinds facing Australia property are huge, including:
- High unemployment and falling household incomes;
- Collapsing immigration, rising supply and falling rents;
- Mortgage repayment holidays and emergency income support ending;
- Early superannuation release ending; and
- Tightening credit availability (despite falling rates).
Melbourne’s property market is most at risk. Not only is it suffering from a second hard lockdown, but it is most reliant on mass immigration, which has ended.
