Property to perform well after games

The property industry is likely to see longer than expected benefits from the Syd-ney Olympics according to the latest Australian Property Industry (API) survey.

The property industry is likely to see longer than expected benefits from the Syd-ney Olympics according to the latest Australian Property Industry (API) survey.

Over 40 per cent of survey respondents predicted the property market will enjoy benefits from the Games beyond 2004 and a third believed similar long term bene-fits would extend to the rest of Australia too.

“There is overwhelming optimism regarding the short-term benefit for Sydney,” the API survey says.

The survey also found that the property industry expects both interest rates and in-flation to rise during the next six to 12 months but will then steady.

API’s NSW president, Michael Collins, says the sentiment on interest rate move-ments in previous surveys had proved accurate with 91 per cent in the current sur-vey predicting a short term increase before the rates even out.

“Virtually all respondents (97 per cent) anticipate inflation to rise during the next six months, with 78 per cent seeing inflation continue to rise up to one year out be-fore steadying,” Collins says.

The impact of GST on property values and rentals also appears to be minimal— with respondents predicting even less impact on property values than they did in API’s previous sentiment survey in April 2000.

Other findings include a prediction Brisbane will show the most growth potential across all three property classes — commercial, industrial and retail — compared with the other major cities and a long term upswing in business confidence.

Collins says fund managers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane indicated com-mercial property is still a growth sector.

However, he says there were divergent views regarding retail and industrial prop-erty.

“Property analysts are placing industrial property in all three cities as past the ze-nith, while valuers saw that sector as still to reach the zenith,” API says.

“In regard to retail property, fund managers see retail in all three cities as past its zenith, while valuers have retail in all three cities as still to reach its zenith.”