Confidence in Western Australia’s property industry is now the second highest of any state or territory, jumping nine index points on the ANZ/Property Council of Australia survey for the September 2019 quarter.

The survey revealed that confidence in WA hit 134 index points, up from 125 in the June quarter. The increased was mirrored in every state and territory, except for the ACT. Additionally, WA is comfortably above the national average (at 128 index points) and is trumped only by South Australia.

Sandra Brewer, executive director of Property Council WA, said that this was good news for a sector the state relies on to create jobs and economic activity.

“Across the board, the results from this survey paint an encouraging picture of the outlook for property in Western Australia,” said Brewer. “Our run of four quarters of declining confidence has come to an end, and all the key indicators are now pointing back in the right direction. In addition to the welcome rise in confidence, we have also seen a marked turnaround in expectations for national economic growth, moving from negative territory to be firmly back on positive ground.”

Brewer said that falling expectations of Western Australian state economic growth in the June quarter have also rebounded.

“This is likely driven in large by a complete reversal in industry’s expectations of the availability of debt finance for the year ahead,” said Brewer. “In WA, this swung from a June quarter net balance of -11.6 index points to be positive 11 in the September index, with similar results seen around the country. These promising signs have seen a commensurate small increase in forward work schedule expectations which, if realised, will translate into more jobs for Western Australians. In the residential sector, we’ve seen a much more moderate, but nonetheless important shift in expectations for capital growth in house prices in the coming 12 months, which have also returned to positive territory. This outlook, indicating the potential for growth, is reinforced by the RBA’s recent interest rate cut together with APRA’s proposed review of lending criteria.”

 

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