The good news is that On the Northern Beaches we saw a 71% clearance rate, including those that sold prior to auction.
However what is alarming about last weekends result is the number of auctions that were passed in on the Northern Beaches. It was noticeably higher than the previous 6 weekends.
When a property is passed in at auction, it means that the seller was not prepared to release the property for the highest bid on the day or there were no bids at all. This highlights the discrepancy between buyer and seller price expectations coming off a boom market.
So now that the boom is over, it does not mean we should expect a large drop or crash in property values. What is more likely is that we will experience a longer period of flat to small negative growth whilst wages and savings catch up. This is the stance predicted by many economists who expect no excitement in the market until at least 2020.
These predictions are of course subject to a surprise interest rate rise or drop, which were again left on hold by the RBA last week. The RBA may also be hit with new rules and regulations before the Royal Commission into banking has ended.
The Sydney market is currently holding 35% more properties listed for sale when compared with this time last year. This is due to some homeowners ‘locking in’ the profit they have enjoyed over the last 5 years, and also due to the longer time it is now taking to sell – sales in April all over the Northern Beaches were significantly lower than the average, whilst the number of properties on the Northern Beaches listed for sale is significantly higher than the average.
This has all contributed towards another -0.4% drop in Sydney property values over April.
Sydney house prices have now taken their biggest hit since 2015, recording a 2.6 per cent drop in prices over the March quarter.
The median house price in Sydney is now $1,150,357, which is $30,000 cheaper than in December. House prices peaked in June 2017 with the median at $1,198,550.
A leading chief economist predicts that the market has still got more downside ahead of us. He believes we may come off another 5 per cent this year and probably another 5 per cent next year and we may continue to fall in 2020 by about 2 per cent.
It must be remembered that no market can keep going up in one straight line. It is still a good time to sell provided that the campaign is adjusted to the current market conditions. Why not lock in the profit you have gained during the boom since June 2012.
To discuss my winning selling strategy for the coming market conditions, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.
Thanks for reading,
Tony.