Buyer interest in $1m properties soars

According to REA, more Aussies are looking to snag a property valued at over $1 million than under $500,000.

In fact, for the first time, there were more than twice as many searches on realestate.com.au for properties over $1 million than there were under $500,000.

Looking at the data more closely, nationally, 38.1 per cent of searches over the month of June were for properties listed for prices in excess of $1 million compared with 16.0 per cent for properties listed for less than $500,000.

In May 2021, 41.6 per cent of filtered searches in capital cities and 22.4 per cent in regional areas had a maximum price of at least $1 million compared with shares of 33.5 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively, at the same time last year.

The researcher, however, revealed that the rise in the share of searches over $1 million has come at the expense of searches below $500,000, which accounted for 13.5 per cent of all capital city filtered searches and 27.2 per cent of regional searches.

REA believes this trend is a result of the record-low cost of debt and high household savings on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics revealed a slight dip in the household savings ratio from 12.2 per cent to 11.6 per cent in the March quarter, it remained high overall.

Household spending, meanwhile, increased 1.2 per cent, as Australians continue the steady loosening of purse strings. 

However, with stimulus being removed, longer-term fixed-rate mortgage costs rising and affordability deteriorating, REA does expect the trend towards more expensive searches to slow over the coming months.