BuyingAnalysis - Property bubble chatter has gone through the roof since the start of 2014Analysis - Property bubble chatter has gone through the roof since the start of 2014
There has been a lot of talk of a property bubble over the past few weeks with US economist and commentator Harry Dent in Australia speaking at conferences and promoting his latest book, predicting a crash in housing markets around the country.
If Google searches are anything to go by, the media that Dent’s visit generated has fuelled concerns about the idea.
There has been a fivefold increase in searches on the phrase “property bubble” in Australia since the start of the year, according to Google Trends data. So far in February, there have been 35% more searches on that term than there were in November 2010, the previous peak in interest in that search from Australia.
Most of the searches conducted related to NSW, Victoria and Western Australia. Queenslanders also did some internet investigations the topic.
Before November 2009, Google recorded no searches on the term “property bubble” in Australia.
Source: Google Trends
Similar terms, “real estate bubble” and “housing bubble” have also been attracting more attention in Australia since late 2009 and early 2010. People in Victoria and NSW searched for real estate bubble with interest in that term growing since early 2013, although searches on that term peaked in April 2010.
Those living in Western Australia searched for “housing bubble” the most, with people in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia also searching on that term.
Even by global comparisons, Australians have been conducting a lot of housing bubble-related Google searches.
Since 2004, Singaporeans searched Google for news of a property bubble the most, conducting more than double the searches than people in the second most concerned country, Malaysia. Australia ranked third, slightly ahead of Ireland.
Since the start of the year, searches on the term property bubble world-wide have more than doubled to their highest level, according to the Google trends data.
Canadians and people in the United States searched most for real estate bubble and housing bubble. Again, Australians ranked third in using those terms over the past decade.
But if those search results show there’s widespread concern in Australia about a property bubble, other common property-related searches tell a different story.
On average over the past five years, there have been 73 searches on the term “investment property” for every three search on the term “property bubble”.
Even over the past 12 months there have been 82 searches for investment property for every five searches for property bubble.
The term “property for sale” has also been searched in Australia over forty times more often than the term property bubble.
Other indicators such as recent auction clearance rates and housing finance figures also suggest that any concerns are yet to translate into action.
