April was the best month our local property market has seen in over 12 months. It was a busy month with plenty of action underscored by value drawing in the buying audience and sellers keen to close the deal.
The prestige market is currently setting the pace with strong demand for genuine family homes as buyers are recognising the improved value on offer and seizing the opportunity to trade up. The key word in the market is ‘value’, which by no means should be interpreted as cheap. This is Sydney after all and, even following a decline in house prices over the past 12 months, fewer buyers in the market and a credit crunch, property is still an expensive transaction with plenty of add-on costs and the underlying stress of actually making it happen. We suggest it’s great ‘value’ when compared to the heat and hype of the 2015 and 2016 markets. It’s clear that current conditions have swung in favour of buyers, inspiring more folk to either enter the market or trade out of their existing home.
As more property, in general, has sold, we can see a direct correlation with improved buyer confidence. Buyers see others trading and a new price benchmark has been established. A key component of the property market (which never appears on any graph or chart) is buyer confidence, which can really vary from suburb to suburb. Even the areas we service have their own micro-property climate and, unless you’re on the ground involved in conversations with buyers, sellers and general property observers, it’s difficult to truly understand how to read the market and make a sound judgement. Much like the share market, we see weekly and monthly fluctuations, which can be influenced by numerous factors. These include the volume of property available; the auction clearance rate; the number of buyers attending open homes; the quality of the property on offer; the speed in which properties are selling; the quality of agents working it that area; and the commercial awareness of sellers.
