A survey shows 54% of Australian investors believe house prices will drop in the next 12 months, compared to only 4.7% three months ago.
The Switzer Fear, Greed and Hope survey from Switzer Financial Group showed 54% of respondents believed house prices would drop in the next 12 months, compared to 4.7% three months ago.
In the first instance of the survey, which was initiated in February 2020, 65.9% thought property prices would increase over the next 12 months.
Only 10.5% of respondents said they would invest in property right now, compared to 62.7% in shares, 10.1% in term deposits and 16.4% in something entirely different.
Peter Switzer, director of Switzer Financial Group, said: “In February 5% of Aussies thought house prices would fall and 66% expected prices to rise but in three months more than one in two think prices will fall; that’s an astounding turnaround.
“The big surprise here is that, after the coronavirus, more Australians feel comfortable investing in stocks over property.”
Australians previously predicted interest rates would drop, before the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest cuts which now sat at 0.25%, with 68.2% expecting to in February.
Now 56.1% anticipated interest rates to move higher, while 43.8% expected another drop.
Over 2,500 respondents participated in the February survey, while over 3,000 participated in May.
The demographic predominantly reflected the investing strategies of middle-to-mature aged investors, who were either full-time workers or retirees.
