It is far too early in the year to speculate where we will be going with the market and whether it will be a strong bounce back or a continuation of last years fall. However, it is important to note that the decline in a lot of our Upper North Shore suburbs were the worst in more than 20 years and in the past, even slight declines have resulted in strong positive growth in response.
I feel that this year will see the return of buyer confidence, having sat on the sideline watching for the most part of last year, these buyers will be ready to pounce.
Conversations I have had with Brokers and people in the Finance sector have indicated that there will be some easing on restrictions regarding lending and that this may add to that confidence. Further, while the banks are already operating at a very strict level, the February results of the Royal Commission should not add too much more restriction to this area.
Our big issue this year will be the Election, more so than previous years, as the investor market is a large portion of our confidence indicators on how we are performing. There is uncertainty around the Labor Party policy on Negative gearing and Rental subsidies and if the worst is true, we will see further falls across the board.
Real Estate is always fraught with short term uncertainty, however as a long term investment (3+ years) Sydney has never disappointed. While we cannot always used past performance as an indicator of future performance, we cannot deny that our appetite for Real Estate has never been greater so keep your eye on the prize.
Thomas Merriman.
Thomas Merriman 