Investors are expected to return to the Sydney property market according to confidence indicators and banking observations.

At BresicWhitney homes this month, our listings experienced the highest average inspection numbers in January than any other month in the history of the brand, with 23 homes already sold.

Among those inspecting were first homebuyers looking to enter the market, owner occupiers buying in after some time away, and investors. Our Property Management Team is keeping a close eye on that balance.

According to ME Bank market sentiment surveys, investor sentiment improved for a fourth straight quarter, leaping from 43% of investor respondents who said they felt positive about the housing market three months earlier, to 58% in the in the bank’s Q1 2021 survey, putting them on par with owner occupiers, whose “positive” respondents jumped from 41% to 58%.

BresicWhitney Head of Property Management Chantelle Collin said a shift in dynamic wasn’t happening yet, but this next phase has been a focus for Sydney’s leading inner-city leasing team.

“Once we see more investor buyers at our sales open homes, we expect a flow through to property management in the coming weeks and months,” Chantelle said.

“During the COVID period, we improved our practices which enabled our team to lease more, when others didn’t have the same resources. Now that means we’re better positioned to ensure success for new investors.”

While investors are a smaller part of the market than owner occupiers, they have the effect of accelerating both rises and declines in the market.

“Investors in the past have generally aggravated the upturns and downturns, or accelerated them,” said economist Louis Christopher of SQM Research. 

“Investors generally are buying when the market has been rising for certain and they’re the first to sell up when the market falls,” he said. 

Meanwhile, for the first time in a year, concerns increased about property becoming unaffordable. The confidence of first-homebuyers waned, with respondents feeling positive about the housing market falling to 27% from 31% 

First homebuyers also had the greatest expectation of prices rising, as many as 95% said housing affordability was a big issue.