Ray White Upper North Shore

Again, I write this update with the real estate market continually surprising us all. It seems like there is no extinguisher that can put the fire out on the Sydney property market! Even with our 106 days in lockdown, the surge in real estate interest has not stopped with record numbers of inspections on properties, strong competition at auction and other sales finalising often before auction date. CoreLogic notes that Australia’s booming property market has reached record highs in the face of extended lockdowns and growing affordability constraints, resulting in the strongest annual growth in more than 30 years. Property values climbed more than 20% over the past year nationally, marking the fastest annual growth seen since 1989. The latest CoreLogic National Home Value Index released recently, shows Sydney up 23.6%. However, the pace of monthly price growth continued to slow, with property values rising 1.5% in September to a national median of $674,848 – the lowest rise since January this year, with growth speaking in March at 2.8%. The big question has been ‘what is driving this growth?’. Largely we are attributing it to the ‘shortage of stock’ and ‘FOMO’ (Fear of Missing Out) where growth seemed to peak after we were released from the last lockdown. I read an article this week which stated that housing supply and demand was the reason for higher prices, the oft-cited shortage of new built stock (and subsequent construction approvals for new dwellings) and the lack of stock on the market culminated in a perfect storm for sellers. Looking specifically at St Ives, the biggest jump in values has been in land value, newly built homes and blocks of land suitable for rebuilding. Prior to January 2021, the suburb record for a residential property for St Ives was $4,700,000. Fast forward to today, the record now sits at just under $6,800,000 (with my sale in May of a Yarrabung Road property) with a further 7 sales in the range of $5M to $6M. As always, if I can assist in any property plans or advice, please feel free to reach out and get in touch. Be well, take care and I look forward to keeping you updated. James Levy 0414 474 868 james.levy@raywhite.com WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OUR MARKET?