How did the pandemic affect your household finances?

How have the coronavirus lockdowns and the recession we experienced last year affected your household finances?

Have you applied for a mortgage repayment holiday for your home or your investments?

Has the pandemic changed your strategy or approach to property investing?

These are only some of the Covid-19 related finance questions we recently asked over 1,700 Australian property investors and would-be investors in our annual Property Investment Sentiment Survey conducted by Yahoo Finance and Michael Yardney’s Property Update, and some of the answers were enlightening.

Running since 2011, our survey offers rich and vibrant insights into how property consumer trends and sentiments have changed over time.

57% of respondents said there was no real change to the household finances, while 28% said their household finances had improved.

This is no real surprise as, despite Covid, lockdowns and a recession last year, recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the average Australian is getting richer.

More Aussies join the millionaire club as Australian household wealth reaches record levels

Yes…the facts are in, and Australian total household wealth (net worth) rose by the record $735 billion or 5.8% to record a high of $13,433.7 billion in the June quarter.

Despite all the challenges Covid has thrown at us wealth is up 19.7% on a year ago – the strongest annual gain in over 11 years.

Average (per capita) household wealth rose by $27,782 or 5.6% in the June quarter to a record high of $522,032 – up 20.3% over the year.

In fact, Australian households have never been wealthier.

The twin effects of rising home prices and superannuation balances propelled net household wealth and wealth per person to record highs.

A recent report by Credit Suisse estimates that as many as 1.8 million Aussies are considered to millionaires today, based on estimates of net household wealth.

And the number of Australian millionaires is expected to grow to 3,100,000 by 2025.

We asked many other questions about the property, investment home buying in this year’s survey – Click here to read the full survey results, but here are some of the highlights.

Are you considering moving to live in a different location because of Covid19?

While 82.6% of the respondents were not considering living elsewhere, 6.2% considered moving to Queensland, while 5% thought regional Australia would offer a better lifestyle.

When asked why they were considering moving, these were the answers:

Has the pandemic changed your work situation?

Not surprisingly, almost half the respondents had a change in their work situation.

The Bottom Line

While we may all be in the same ocean, we are not in the same boat, and while some Australians have lost their jobs or are working shorter hours and have suffered financially, many Aussies are in at least as good a financial situation or better compared to when the pandemic began.

Sure 2021 will be a year many of us would rather forget, even though very few of us ever will.

So much has happened and so much has changed in our lives – well in some cases not much has really happened as we’ve been stuck at home.

However, for homeowners and property investors it will be a year when the value of their properties will have increased by up to 20% - in some cases, they will earn more from property capital growth than they will from their day job.

Click here to read the full survey results.

ALSO READ: Here’s what property investors will be doing in 2022

About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He's once again been voted Australia's leading property investment adviser and one of Australia's 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.