Ray White Point Clare

Our advice to would-be sellers, perhaps looking to make a change within the next 12 months, is to take action now. What’s happening in our market? In our winter report we discussed a number of positive changes in lending assessment, interest rates and buyer sentiment which we’d hoped would stop the downward pressure on prices and help the market stabilise after 18months of decline. The good news is the market responded better than we thought, with buyers feeling comfortable the worst was behind us and confidently competing for property again. The result?We didn’t just see prices stabilise, we actually saw them recover slightly. Property prices rose by 1.6% in Sydney the past quarter, with auction clearance rates in the high 70-80% range - a 2 year high and a level not seen since the end of the boom. So is it all good news?Well for now, yes. It’s very clear that these increases are due largely to a record low number of properties on the market. What remains to be seen is if the current market conditions will be sustainable as more owners take notice of the improved selling environment and the volume of listings increases. It’s quite likely we are simply in a perfect storm situation right now, where buyers are being forced to compete and pay higher prices purely due to the lack of choice. Our advice to would-be sellers, perhaps looking to make a change within the next 12months, is to take action now. It’s quite possible that given the current lack of listings a buyer may pay a premium to secure the right home. You then have the power to take your pick of a rush of new properties flooding the market once the majority of owners have cottoned on to the improved selling conditions. In real estate, timing is everything. If over the past year you’ve found yourself saying “We’ll wait until the market improves then we’ll make a move”, then now’s your time. It’s only a matter of time before everyone else gets the same idea. AndrewMacdonald Principal, RayWhite Point Clare