Joel Evers was 21 when he first started scrolling through property listings.

Having purchased a business, he said it was the first time in his life where he was earning enough money "to even consider" buying a property.

Now 31, the Sydney horticulturalist and property owner said his fascination with the market had remained consistent throughout the past ten years, even as his circumstances changed.

"I've spent a lot of time behind a computer the last decade," he said. 

"I studied all analytics of the property market to gauge where my investment would be most rewarded but mostly to find miss-listings which would be undervalued.

At a glance: 

• New research from HSBC has revealed Australians spend an average of 2.5 hours a week focused on property.
• Accroding to the data, the UAE and USA are the most property obsessed countries in the world, spending an average of 6.6 and 4.95 hours respectively on property each week.
• Nearly 50 per cent of extreme property addicts admit to checking the value of their own home monthly.

"In the last 5 years, I would have been searching online almost every day, just for an hour - probably a slight obsession, but it helped reiterate where I was going."

It's a scenario that is becoming increasingly common across the globe, with new research from HSBC has revealing people are spending an average of 3.5 hours every week window shopping for homes, reading property magazines and trawling online listings – even when they aren’t in the market for a new house.

According to the research, Australians spend an average of 2.5 hours a week focused on property, more than twice the time they spend at the gym (1.08 hours) or speaking to their parents (0.88 hours).

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Joel Evers from Sydney.

The UAE and USA are the most property obsessed countries in the world, spending an average of 6.6 and 4.95 hours respectively on property each week.

Head of Mortgages for HSBC Australia Alice Del Vecchio said softening property prices and low interest rates were encouraging factors for many Australians looking to enter the property market.

“Buying a property is often the most significant purchase Aussies make, but it seems that some home buyers are taking their passion for the perfect home to the extreme," he said.

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Source: HSBC

"An industry of property magazines, TV programmes and websites is making it harder than ever to have realistic expectations about what you can afford – with many Aussies putting off important life stages, like having children, in the quest to afford the perfect property."

Mr Evers said the nature of his profession meant any property he was considering had to satisfy certain criteria.

"As a horticulturist looking for farmland, I searched properties within 3 hours from Sydney," he said.

"It needs to have a water source, fertile soils (often very hard to find), be affordable, and have land large enough in size to be a profitable business venture. "

By Sean Slatter

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