Five reasons why this might be a great time to buy

With the property market cooling in many parts of Australia, many people may be wondering if now is a good time to buy as either a first-home buyer or investor.

Australia’s median property price fell 3.4% in the August quarter, according to CoreLogic, which could be either good news or bad depending on your perspective.

On the downside, no one likes the idea of buying an asset that then drops in value. So it’s tempting to sit on the sidelines until there’s undeniable proof the market is back in growth mode.

However, there are five reasons why buying now might actually be a good idea, depending on your personal circumstances.

1. It’s impossible to know at the time when the market has bottomed out – you only find out months later once the market has rebounded enough to make it clear it’s growing again. So while buying at the bottom sounds great in theory, it’s almost impossible to purposely do in practice.

2. There’s much less buyer competition now than at the start of the year, making it easier to buy a good home at a fair price.

3. If you hold off buying until you’re certain the market is rising, you’ll be forced to compete with all the other buyers who decided to do the same thing, making buying harder.

4. If you’re a first-home buyer, the sooner you buy a home the sooner you get to escape a rental market in which prices are rapidly increasing (see previous story). If you’re a property investor, the sooner you get to earn those fast-rising rents.

5. Australia’s median price increased by an astonishing 382% in the 30 years to July 2022, despite a series of downturns along the way, according to CoreLogic. If history repeats, and if you hold your property for the long-term, any price falls you might suffer in the initial months would probably be dwarfed by the gains you make in the following decades.

Whether this is a good time to buy depends on your personal circumstances. But if you have a secure income and financial buffers in place, this could be an excellent time for first-home buyers and property investors to enter the market.

Unsure if now is the right time to buy? Get in touch and I’ll be happy to help you evaluate the pros and cons.