Property investors should be alerted to question the logic of their decisions, after a new survey shows that most Australians think now is a good time to buy, while at the same time expecting a 'significant market correction'.

Almost two thirds of Australians think now is a good time to buy residential property, while roughly the same proportion believes the housing market is vulnerable to a significant correction, according to the CoreLogic and TEG Rewards Housing Market Sentiment Survey.

Of the 2,432 Australian residents who participated in the June quarter survey, 64% said it was a good time to buy a dwelling, up from 60% the same time last year.

Sydney respondents, where affordability constraints are the tightest, were the most pessimistic about whether now is a good time to buy a property. But still more than half the respondents said it was a good time to buy.

In regions where property prices have peaked and are trending downwards, respondents were most confident about buying. In the Northern Territory, Regional Western Australia and Perth, more than 80% indicated they thought it was a good time to buy.

CoreLogic Research Head Tim Lawless said, “With such as a large proportion of survey respondents thinking that now is a good time to buy a dwelling, it was surprising to see almost two thirds (65%) also indicated they thought dwelling values could suffer a significant correction.”

The survey also explored attitudes toward foreign investment.

Most survey respondents (94%) believe that foreign buying activity is putting some degree of upwards pressure on Australian property prices. Of those surveyed, 17% said foreign buying is placing ‘extreme’ upwards pressure on home values. However, more than half of those surveyed felt that any upwards pressure on dwelling values caused by foreign demand was modest, slight or non-existent. 

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