The latest Mortgage Industry Association of Australia (MIAA)/BankWest Home Finance Survey showed 42.9% of respondents expect residential property prices to rise in the next quarter, almost double the proportion of consumers who shared this expectation in June last year. MIAA chief executive, Phil Naylor, said the improving confidence in the property prices could be the early signs of an upturn in the market. "Confidence that the housing market will bounce back from the recent downturn and events such as interest rate rises could very easily lead to more buying action," he said. BankWest Head of Broker Sales, Phil Colton, said other signs of an improving market outlook are also seen in a large number of respondents (71.3%) who believed the value of their residential property had not fallen in the past 12 months. "This is a major shift, considering only 10.8% of respondents said prices had fallen, compared with 37.5% in the previous survey," said Colton. "For many Australians, this could restore their faith in the bricks and mortar, and the great Australian dream of owning their own home or investing their dollars in property," he added.

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