This is quite contrary to certain sectors of public opinion that claim PIs are outbidding homebuyers with their negative gearing advantage and so are the real cause of unaffordability.
I think the key words there are PUBLIC and OPINION.
Given that the majority of the public are not PI's and never will be, and given that many of the public view investors as greedy b@stards, this opinion would be common if you did a street corner survey.
I reckon the figure would be off the charts if you went to an area near a Uni full of young people who are probably FHB's (or trying to be); say; around Melb Uni, or RMIT or one of those.
Go to an area like Camberwell or Brighton and plonk yerself outside a David Jones store and the figure would be totally different.
There will, of course, be an element of PI's who make big mistakes; bidding up the price of a property which will undermine their cashflow bottom-line, but I reckon it'd be a small %. The ones more likely to do this would be yer high-earning professionals such as a doctor or lawyer etc who were told by the accountant to go out and buy a property to get the tax deduction.
I've put in offers on literally dozens of properties over the years, and never ever offered the asking price.
Now, I'd consider myself no genius; just one of the majority normal try-hard investors who I reckon makes up the majority of PI's - we want to buy cheap, rent high, retire early and with plenty.
The majority of us haven't got endless after-tax dollars to waste on destroying our possible rent return just to get the deal.