\n\tBy Chris Shaw<\/p>\n
\n\tMortgage Choice has completed its 2010 Consumer Sentiment Survey, surveying more than 1,000 Australian consumers, including more than 500 with mortgages, about a number of matters related to finance and property matters.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe group's 2009 survey showed interest rates were the major concern for the year ahead but this year's survey shows interest rates now come in second at 16%, with other costs of living such as utility bills moving to the top of the list of concerns for next year at 27%. This is up from 17% last year.<\/p>\n
\n\tEconomic management at Federal Government level is the third biggest concern at 15%, followed by job security at 8%, down from 16% last year, and food costs at 7%.<\/p>\n
\n\tMortgage Choice's survey showed 35% of respondents intend to purchase property in the next two years, with 36% of these intending to buy an investment property, 33% their next home and 31% their first home.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe survey showed 27% of potential investors are most concerned about interest rates, while 19% of next home buyers list the level of interest rates as the major concern. Only 8% of first home buyers have interest rates as their primary concern. <\/p>\n
\n\tKristy Sheppard, senior corporate affairs manager at Mortgage Choice, notes the survey was conducted prior to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate hike in November, highlighting how much of a surprise was the RBA move.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere are potential implications of the rate hike, Sheppard noting 9% of mortgage holders surveyed had indicated based on an interest rate of 7% they could not afford any more rate hikes before considering selling up their property holdings.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe survey also showed 4% of those with mortgages indicated, based on a 7% interest rate, they could afford only one 0.25% rate rise before considering selling their property. Increases of 0.25% to 0.5% could be afforded by 5% of respondents, while 6% could afford 0.5-0.75% of increases and 8% could afford increases in rates of up to 1.0%. On a more positive note, 20% of respondents indicated they could afford rate rises of more than 5.0%.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmong those surveyed, 11% expect rates to rise by up to 0.25% in 2011, while 33% said increases would be between 0.25% to 0.50%. Increases in rates of 0.50-0.75% are expected by 21% of those surveyed, 15% see increases of 0.75%-1.0% and 19% anticipate rates increasing by better than 1.0% next year.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith respect to investing, the survey showed 59% of respondents saw the Global Financial Crisis as making investing in property seem safer than buying shares. About 16% of respondents intend to buy shares rather than property, while 20% intend to buy both.<\/p>\n
\n\tAbout 30% of respondents will look at renovating an existing property rather than buying a different property, while the survey indicated 60% of those buying property in the next two years, which makes up 35% of respondents, would be making some kind of sacrifice to do so. These sacrifices include cutting back on spending, forgoing overseas travel, purchasing a less expensive property and taking on an additional job.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe main motivations for buying a property according to the survey were to secure a better financial future, a desire or need to relocate, to add to an existing portfolio or to establish a position in the property market.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn terms of affordability the Mortgage Choice survey showed 31% of respondents viewed the issue as under-rated, while 13% saw it as over-rated. Almost half of those responding expect residential property prices will increase over the next 12 months, while only 13% expect prices will decline in the year ahead.<\/p>\n
\n\tLooking at personal finance the survey showed of those with mortgages, 55% intend to change their financial situation in the coming year. This is most likely to come via a review of the household budget or of an existing mortgage. Potential measures include a cut back on spending and a refinancing of an existing mortgage.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile 75% of those responding were either very or fairly confident the Australian economy would be strong in 2011, 36% indicated rising interest rates and or the economic recovery would influence them to save more in the coming year.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith respect to mortgage broking, the survey showed the major reason for using a mortgage broker according to 34% of respondents was to save on having to research the market themselves. A majority of respondents, 61%, would consider using a mortgage broker in the future and 64% know what services mortgage brokers provide.<\/p>\n
\n\tCurrently around 40% of all new Australian home loans are sourced by mortgage brokers, with scope for this to increase in the future given 59% of respondents suggested national regulation of the industry would make them more likely to use a mortgage broker. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A consumer survey by Mortgage Choice shows property remains a popular investment in Australia, though affordability is an issue and household spending is being more closely watched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[21,31],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.fnarena.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}