As you know I like to keep you updated on the Real Estate market, especially across the Upper North Shore.
Firstly,
Most people are now aware that the market in the Upper North Shore is outperforming predictions and defying logic in a market clouded by a lot of Global instability.
The common question now is ‘why?’ and there are many reasons why, and many unknowns and a bit of uncertainty, of which I do not have time to fully extrapolate today.
Some of the reasons for growth, in our area are;
- People moving up to the ‘suburbs’ from city fringe areas who are no longer concerned with extreme proximity to the city, now they are working from home more often
- Buyers taking advantage of what should be a declining market, gambling on an even bigger recovery post COVID
- An extreme shortage of stock on the market forcing greater competition among the bottle-neck of buyers who are committed to purchasing regardless of the environment
Whether there is a recovery or whether the mounting likelihood of mass defaults is a reality, I am not going to speculate but whatever it is, these are the key contributors we are seeing locally.
Local market:
The properties that are selling well are properties that are listed for Auction with a realistic price guide based on a good range of local comparable sales. Buyers are likely to invest themselves completely into a campaign where they feel a good sense of value.
The most popular properties are:
- Newly built homes – selling very quickly with between 50 and 100 groups coming through individual inspections
- Knock-down stock – homes that suit ‘knockdown rebuild’ are selling at or before auction with plenty of competition from the market, mainly astute buyers who are prepared to ride the property wave
- Median price stock – property that is priced around the median sale price for most suburbs in the local area are seen to provide good value to buyers, usually presenting multiple interested parties
Notable sale:
3 Hampden Ave, Wahroonga: We sold this property (as a ‘knockdown rebuild’) to the current owner last year just after the Federal Election for $2,060,000 which was regarded as the highest ‘land’ sale in East Wahroonga. We sold the finished product on Monday 28/9 for $5,050,000 which is the new highest sale price in East Wahroonga for any home by $900,000.
Wider market:
We have started to see more and more property hitting the market all across Sydney. We do not have a firm figure on how much of this stock is ‘distressed’ stock but most of the areas that are moving stock are claiming solid results.
There is an increase in Auction listings which is a reflection of strong sentiment from buyers and confidence from sellers to approach this type of campaign.
Banks:
Pre-approvals are still a big issue for buyers with some banks taking as long as 36 days and some banks offering 24 hour turnaround. Of course, interest rates, serviceability and other factors all play a big part in which direction you should go when choosing a loan so USE A BROKER!
Interest Rates (RBA):
The cash rate remains unchanged (0.25%) with a lot of varying information being passed around about whether the rate should drop and why and when it should be dropped if at all … but the next step is 0.00%.
The market is currently trading on a 67% chance of this drop occurring at the next meeting on Tuesday 6/10 – watch this space!
IF you would like a report on your suburb, please reply and I will send a copy straight over.
If you have any questions or would like a report on another area, please let me know.
Thank you.
Thomas Merriman
Thomas Merriman 