Housing confidence back to ''boom'' days

Article Category: Demographics

By By BN, 29 January 2010

The GFC is now a 'distant memory for most Australians' according to the latest MFAA/ Bankwest Home Finance Index.

Having canvassed the opinions of 850 people on a range of issues relating to the economy and housing market, it found that nearly three quarters (73%) expect house prices to rise.

Phil Naylor, CEO of the MFAA, called the result "surprising" and said it was the "highest proportion for more than three years".
 
"Confidence in the housing market is not only pre-GFC - it's back where it was during the height of the housing boom," Naylor said.

"But there are still some clouds on the horizon, with recent interest rate increases negatively impacting households," he said.

The survey found that 15.9% of respondents are struggling to meet repayments -up from only 11.7% in May 2009 with the highest proportion (25%) of strugglers in WA.

The least number of people struggling to meet repayments were in NSW (20.6%).