Australians are mostly confident that house prices have not dropped and will continue to improve over the coming year, although a recent survey shows many NSW and WA homeowners have no real idea of the value of their property.
The latest Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) / BankWest Home Finance Index has revealed that almost a quarter of property owners in NSW are unsure whether the value of their property has fallen in the past 12 months, with an additional 13 per cent convinced the value has decreased.
Phil Naylor, CEO of the MFAA said that 22.2 per cent of people surveyed in NSW did not know the value of their property.
This is startlingly high, when compared to other states.
West Australians are the closest, with 10.6 per cent of respondents unsure if their home's value had decreased in the past 12 months.
Across Australia, there is a confidence that house prices have not fallen in the past year, with 82.5 per cent of people confident prices haven't dropped, up 11.2 per cent since November last year.
BankWest Head of Broker Sales, Phil Colton said the survey showed people across the country remained bullish about property prices.
"68.9 per cent of people expect the next quarter to return higher results. This is up from 42.9 per cent this time last year," Mr Colton said.
"But again, NSW and WA have bucked the trend.
The people in these two states have the lowest expectations of increases in residential property prices in the next quarter."
61 per cent of NSW people are confident prices will rise, but this is offset by 11.2 per cent of respondents saying they are sure the prices will fall.
In the West, only 57.2 per cent of people expect increases, with 11.3 per cent expecting a fall.
