Statistics on the property market bombard buyers constantly. Despite the plethora of information, growth data can vary wildly and it can be almost impossible for buyers to determine how much the market is moving.
Now that the AFL and NRL seasons have wrapped up, many people’s attention will turn to the biggest game in the country: property. (Sorry, A League fans).
The weather is warming up and as the sun comes out so too will property buyers. As they prepare themselves to face the intense competition many will begin their researching in earnest to understand what the market is doing and gain an advantage.
Just as punters poured over the key stats between the Bulldogs and the Swans before putting in their tips, buyers will pour over property market statistics. Unfortunately, there are so many varying results that buyers can have almost no idea as to the movement of the market.
A recent article in the Financial Review by Jason Greber and Michael Bleby examined the disparity between data sets released by both government and private providers. The results are startling.
For example, according to CoreLogic, house prices rose 12.2% in the year to June 30, 2016. Domain and the Australian Bureau of Statistics measured growth over the same period from 7.4% and 9.9% respectively.
In Sydney, CoreLogic measured an 11% increase in the year to June, while Domain measured an increase of only 1.2%, and the ABS measured 3.7%. A disparity of a massive 9.8%.
The disparity between statistics measuring value growth can be very confusing for buyers. Source: Financial Review
It is worth noting that these organisations use different methods to collect their data, which does produce a differing result, but from a buyers perspective these results are incredibly confusing.
In the most extreme of cases, buyers could find data that points either to a massive surge in growth in property values or a modest increase in the same market.
So who should buyers follow?
The reality is that broad stroke statistics are useful to give a general indication of market movement, but when it comes to the crunch of purchasing, specificity is what counts. There are simply too many variables that determine a property’s value to rely solely on statistics.
“Buyers need to know that there are markets within markets” says National Property Buyers Senior Advocate, Rob Di Vita.
“There’s obviously a difference in price between suburbs, but even within certain pockets within suburbs there will be a significant difference” he said.
“We can even see differences between the value of property from one street and the next. There really are dozens of factors that we use to calculate the value of a property.”
Buyers will get the most of their research when they have a very clear idea about what they want to purchase, according to National Property Buyers Senior Consultant, Brenton Potter.
“When buyers know exactly what they want they can focus on the data that is actually relevant to their purchase” he said.
“Anything else can quickly become irrelevant.”
For further information on how to secure your ideal property, speak to a property professional.