First home buyers are on the lookout for bargain priced houses and many are considering a move out of the capital cities to get into the housing market.
According to the latest ME Quarterly Property Sentiment Report, 82 per cent of first home buyers said they hoped to find bargain properties in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just over half (51 per cent) of first home buyers said they plan to get into the housing market in the next 12 months – the highest of any group in the survey and up nine percentage points from the previous survey.
Sixty per cent of first home buyers said they would consider buying in a regional area to save money and to have a better lifestyle, compared with 45 per cent of respondents overall.
ME general manager home loans, Andrew Bartolo, said the introduction of remote and more flexible working arrangements has influenced people’s thinking about where they can live.
Low interest rates are also having an influence, with 75 per cent of first home buyers saying low rates had made buying a property more attractive.
There was also a big jump in the proportion of first home buyers saving, with 40 per cent reporting that they were saving more compared with 21 per cent in the previous survey.
Overall, the majority of respondents expect house prices to fall or stay the same over the next 12 months.