Overheated Market Could Burn First-Time Home Buyers

Pushing people to enter the “overheated” housing market is a bad idea, an expert says, with new data finding first-time buyers want to purchase property as soon as possible. A report has affirmed Australians are eager to join the home-ownership ladder during a week of jockeying in federal government over how best to help buyers. On Sep. 20, a survey from insurance company Helia found 71 percent of Australians agree “now is a good time” to buy a property, despite cost-of-living issues and persistent inflation at 3.8 percent. Of the 3002 respondents, 1965 were first-timers and most (87 percent) agreed with the statement they were “feeling a growing sense of urgency to buy (their) first property as prices keep going up.”...