MONTHLY MARKET WRAP – NOVEMBER 2017
November was always going to be a pressure month for the property market with the tide turning in favour of buyers and an increasing supply of property available.
We saw the market divide into sellers who were willing to meet buyer feedback and secure a sale versus those sellers who held firm on a price which in most instances never materialised. There was also a recognisable shift towards marquee homes which attracted stronger demand while mid-tier properties had to be aggressively priced in order to engage any buying interest.
There were many reports on how quickly the Sydney property market has shifted and what impact there was to prices. From our assessment, the market has been hit and miss, making it difficult to pinpoint accurately what has happened to property values over the past several months. However, there is a growing list of examples of properties that traded in 2016 and are now selling in November 2017 with a 10% discount.
We recognised that September and October were softening up months for the property market when the auction clearance rate started to decline. During these months, the disparity between buyer and seller expectations and views on value was at its widest. As properties started to sell at a rebalanced price point, agents and sellers quickly had to adjust expectations. A number of sellers absorbed the advice and secured a sale. However, if you’d been monitoring the market, you would have noticed that the extensive list of failed auctions, properties being listed for more than 90 days or properties simply being withdrawn from sale grew quickly.
In addition, we saw stock levels in our market grow by an average of 35% from September into October and again into November. Buyers have the upper hand now. With a solid supply of property on offer, declining confidence in the market and Christmas quickly approaching, this places pressure on those sellers who need to have their sale finalised.
With that said, there are some green shoots in the market and some really good sales still occurring. We have maintained a consistent level of sales and noticed that if value is demonstrated then buyers are ready and willing to engage quickly. During November we certainly refined our communication with sellers, pulled back price guides and spent more time with buyers reassuring them of a property’s value. The outcome of this was a range of prestige sales that occurred off-market as well as before and at auction. We were meeting an average of 820 buyers each week and issued more than 70 contracts to active buyers each week, suggesting that in our core markets buyers remain active and in healthy numbers. The key to securing a sale is fundamentally coming back to demonstrating value in a cooler selling climate and if this is established any seller can expect interest.
It is likely that there will still be a decent amount of property available heading into December and it looks unlikely that this will all be snapped up pre-Christmas. This raises the question as to whether sellers push on through the holiday period or re-approach a sales campaign in February. It appears this will be a day by day proposition but we can say that the buying environment at present is the best we’ve seen in several years.
This month’s signature performers:
9 Cashman Street, Rozelle | $1.31m
2a Coneill Place, Forest Lodge | $3.08m
17/15-17 Fountain Street, Alexandria | Undisclosed