7 April 2009

Home Buyers Return with Caution as Inspection Services Jump

Archicentre, the largest supplier of pre-purchase home inspections and renovation design concepts in Australia has reported a major jump for the use of its inspection services for prospective home buyers when compared with March 2008.

Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Australian Institute of Architects, undertook reports on 28,800 buildings in 2008 with an estimated value of $8 billion.


Robert Caulfield

In March 2009 compared with March 2008, pre-purchase inspections were up 53% in Victoria, 63% in New South Wales, 96% in Queensland, 30% in Western Australia and 10% in Tasmania. South Australia was the only state which showed a downturn compared with last year with 8% less inspections.

Robert Caulfield, Managing Director of Archicentre said the increase reflects home buyers taking a cautious return to the market, wanting to make sure they are not buying a 'lemon' or taking on a property that has illegal building or expensive structural problems.

"Home buyers in the current economic climate are acutely aware of the sharp edge of needing to focus on asset management and unbudgeted costs. Our pre-purchase inspections tend to precede real estate sales figures by about two months and mortgage figures by about four months, so this could indicate a general recovery in the market

"Most prospective buyers know that buying an older home with unseen faults such as cracked foundations, termites or roof problems can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of their home and potentially put paying their mortgage under threat."

Mr. Caulfield said that pre-purchase property inspections are increasingly on the agenda of home lenders who want to be assured the property they are securing the loan against will not become a liability to the borrowers.

"With many vendors under pressure to sell homes it is not unusual for people to do a quick makeover to cover up major faults and we are saying to prospective home buyers that homes with a new coat of paint through the interior need to be assessed carefully.

"One of the issues is that many of the faults to be found in homes are hidden in roof cavities or under the floor where most people do not look. These areas are also where the expensive faults are found," Mr Caulfield added.

Archicentre 2009 statistics compiled from pre-purchase home inspections in each State

 

Damp

Framing

Illegal Building

Sub Floor Faults

Timber Rot

Cracking

Electrical

Roofing

Water Supply

NSW

47%

24%

29%

18%

36%

40%

31%

37%

9%

VIC

32%

20%

30%

31%

45%

43%

33%

53%

15%

QLD

32%

16%

22%

22%

33%

20%

21%

31%

8%

SA

46%

15%

32%

4%

36%

48%

31%

37%

8%

WA

30%

15%

21%

11%

20%

36%

19%

30%

12%

TAS

25%

9%

34%

13%

22%

44%

25%

40%

10%

www.archicentre.com.au

Media Enquiries:
Robert Caulfield Managing Director Archicentre (03) 9819 4577 Mobile: 0412 381 306
Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications (03) 9818 5700 Mobile: 0417 329 201