The past month has seen the most negative news reporting regarding our property market in 3 years. Although some of it is media sensationalising, a lot of it is holding true.
With a monthly decrease in property prices in Sydney of -1.1%, the property market has no doubt cooled off.
Having said that, there’s still an opportunity to get a great price on your home taking into account that house prices are up 13.7% since November 2014 and a whopping 50% since June 2012.
When Westpac lifted their interest rates last month, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the 3 big banks joined them.
Auction clearance rates have been dropping and so have the number of buyers attending open homes. Earlier in the month, Sydney recorded a clearance rate of just 59.2% - the first time it has dropped below 60% in 3 years.
The Northern Beaches however is doing better than the average as our enviable lifestyle and world class beaches combined with a lack of housing supply will always make the Northern Beaches an attractive area to buy into.
Having said that, Spring has seen an influx of properties come onto the market which has given buyers more negotiating power.
The change in mood in the market is resulting in a stand-off between home sellers and buyers, as owners are still holding out for prices being achieved 3-4 months ago while buyers are in no rush, with many now opting to sit out to see if prices drop.
So apart from interest rates at record lows, what else has pushed Sydney property prices up so high?
Did you know that Approximately 40% of Australia’s population lives in either Sydney or Melbourne? This is extremely high when compared to other countries. By comparison, Japan, for example has less than 10% of its total population in it’s two largest cities and England has less than 20%.
The high amount of population in such a concentrated space is a huge driver of real estate price growth in Sydney and certain parts of Melbourne.
So what can we expect for the rest of 2015 and 2016?
Every strong market eventually stabilizes and I believe this is what we are seeing now. Supply will remain steady for the rest of the year and demand will fall away as we reach the traditional Christmas Holiday season.
So the window of opportunity to sell in 2015 is closing fast. For those of you looking to get your property on the market in 2016, there will be pent-up buyers ready to go after the holiday season. Contact me today so I can advise you on what you need to do to get you and your property ready for a premium sale.
Thanks for reading,
Tony.