Developers have spent the past three years trying to solve problems they can't control.

They can't control interest rates. They can't control construction costs. They can't control planning delays or global economic uncertainty.

What they can control is how easy they make it for qualified buyers to confidently exchange. That's an important distinction.

Every developer has adjusted pricing, incentives or marketing over recent years in response to changing market conditions.

Yet if the goal is improving sales velocity without impacting margin, removing barriers at the point of exchange may have a greater impact than many realise.

The buyer hasn't disappeared, they're just committing differently

While the property market has cooled in recent months across the majority of Australia's major capital cities, buyers are still out there, they're just looking to commit to a purchase differently. That's the view of Nick Rumpff, Head of Sales and Distribution at deposit bond provider Deposit Power, who has visibility into thousands of property transactions and the evolving challenges facing buyers in the new-build and off-the-plan market.

"Across conversations with buyers, many have both the financial capacity and desire to purchase, but what they don't necessarily have is immediate liquidity, or the desire to lock away a significant amount of capital for the deposit, years before settlement.

"Investors may have their wealth tied up elsewhere. Downsizers may not want to sell until they're ready to move. First-home buyers are understandably trying to make every dollar they've saved work as hard as possible.

"They're all very different buyers, yet they're asking a remarkably similar question, which is causing them to stall: 'How can my money be working harder for me while my new property is being built?'"

It's a question every developer should pay attention to

Rumpff says the deposit is one of the biggest financial commitments off-the-plan or new build buyers make before settlement.

“Most believe paying the traditional upfront cash deposit by selling their family home, liquidating assets, withdrawing money from their super or obtaining bridging finance is the only way. Yet we're increasingly being contacted by buyers looking for a better way to protect their financial position across their buying journey, right up until settlement.”

Could that money be reducing interest through an offset account? Could it remain invested in superannuation or savings? Would retaining access to those funds provide greater flexibility if circumstances changed before settlement?

For buyers, that's becoming less of a finance question and more of a strategy question. And for developers, it's becoming part of the sales conversation.

Why more developers are rethinking deposit strategy

This is where deposit bonds are beginning to attract greater attention. Not because they're designed to replace a traditional cash deposit, but because they give eligible buyers another way to structure one of the largest financial commitments they'll make before settlement.

For buyers, that may mean retaining access to capital during construction. For developers, it can mean removing one of the biggest barriers that can cause sales to stall.

One global developer delivering a project on Sydney's Lower North Shore offered buyers the option of using a deposit bond instead of paying a traditional cash deposit. Many of them had the means to come up with the funds. Nearly 80 per cent chose the deposit bond.

The statistic isn't interesting because it promotes deposit bonds. It's interesting because it tells us something about buyer behaviour. When buyers are given greater flexibility around how they provide their deposit, many choose it.

Sales velocity is built one exchange at a time

There isn't a single solution to the challenges facing Australia's apartment industry. Developers will continue navigating higher delivery costs, planning complexity, funding pressures and affordability challenges for years to come.

But there are still parts of the buyer journey they can influence. The deposit is one of them.

Developers have spent years refining the apartment itself. Perhaps the next competitive advantage lies in refining the journey to exchange, because in today's market, improving sales velocity isn't always about selling more apartments, it's about helping more qualified buyers confidently commit.