LJ Hooker's white paper '2017 trends' says conditions for property buyers actually improved in 2016 as interest rates fell and unemployment tightened.

The paper predicts five trends will emerge in 2017.

1. Pick apartment pockets

Apartment approvals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane soared to record levels in 2016, and many of those home will come onto the market in 2017. As supply increases, prices will moderate. But many suburbs will see no new apartment developments, and these suburbs will not face the same possibility of oversupply.

"Research, research, and research," Mathew Tiller, LJ Hooker head of research told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS. 

"Buyers need to understand what has been approved, built and sold over the past 12 to 18 months. Plus, they need to understand what is planned for the area into the future; are there more apartments, new roads, a new rail line, a bus stop, shops or even office towers due to be built.

"The more a buyer knows about an area, the better chance they have of buying an apartment that suits their requirements."

2. The rise of the renter 

Worsening affordability, an increase in the number of investors, and new apartment supply in popular inner-city suburbs will result in an increase in the number of households opting to rent.

"More people are now deciding that home ownership is not for them," said Tiller. 

"While the main driver is affordability constraints, other factors such as lifestyle choice, financial stress or personal circumstances are also at play," he said. 

Tiller said security of tenure reamins a concern for renters.

"Renting provides some households with the flexibility that they require, however, security of tenure remains the biggest concern of tenants."

Governments need to intervene to support the rising numbers of renters.

"Governments need to ensure regulations are regularly updated to ensure they provide security for tenants and keep pace with the evolution of housing markets," said Tiller.

3. Love thy neighbour

Rezoning of land to allow for higher density development has created the opportunity for neighbours to amalgamate their properties and sell them in one line.

"Home owners that want to team up need to first speak and agree amongst themselves that amalgamation is the path they want to go down," said Tiller. 

"This is the ideal time to invite a local real estate agent into advise whether properties are candidates for amalgamation and whether there is developer interest in their area for these sites.

"An agent with a trusted brand, national reach, and experience dealing with developers and large sites would be the ideal agent to bring in to advise on the sale of an amalgamated site."

4. The sharing economy

New 'disruptive' and innovative technologies will continue to shape how we live and how we interact with the built environment. This includes everything from how we control devices and appliances within our own homes to how we interact with businesses and the delivery of products and services.

These technologies and services will not only change the way we build new homes but “sharing” services will also affect the way we use our existing homes

• Short term and sharing accommodation services such as Airbnb are changing the way we use our spare rooms or how we rent our investment properties.
• Ride sharing companies like Uber are modifying the way we move about our cities and suburbs.
• Shared private parking rental services such as Divvy are changing the way we use our parking spots, driveways and garages.
• Shared car services such as GoGet are nowbeing provided by councils, developers and strata managers, reducing the need and demand for private and on street parking spots.

The ability of these technologies and services to make you money, save you money or free up time will ensure that their take-up and popularity continues to rise over the coming year.

5. The cost of change

The costs of buying, selling, and moving are continuing to grow, to the extent that people are reconsidering or delaying their next property move.

While property price growth and low affordability is a key contributor to this trend, another significant factor is rising state government taxes, fees and charges.

"Recent strong price growth, and the fact that stamp duty is calculated on the value of the property, means that it has reached a point where it is having a big impact on the budgets of property buyers," said Tiller.

"The scrapping of stamp duty and replacing it with a broad-based land tax would assist housing affordability, increase the mobility of the population and encourage owner-occupiers to upsize and downgrade into a property that suits their changing needs."

See also:

Where to look for property in 2017: Simon Cohen of Cohen Handler

Property market forecast: Sydney in 2017

What property lessons did you learn in 2016?