So much for a slowdown....

Its interesting to read the popular press and believe the current "doom and gloom" sentiment in the property market. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to generalize and apply the mood to the entire market, when nothing could be further from the truth. I'm currently searching across a no. of Sydney suburbs for clients and have noticed a cooling down in some suburbs and price brackets, whilst others remain quite buoyant.

The number of days a property is listed on the market before it sells provides an excellent "helicopter view" of a suburb. If you compare this figure over each quarter it can often be helpful in determining demand at a certain point in time. What I've noticed are some large differences in more expensive vs affordable suburbs here in Sydney. Over the last 12 mths for example, the average amount of days on the market for a Killara dwelling has been 124 days in comparison to Blacktown's 71 days. Mosman 110 days Baulkham Hills 99 days.

Affordability almost always plays a key role in investment activity. After all, when prices are lower yields usually are higher, resulting in an easier entry point for investors in the lower priced areas of a capital city or town. What I'm seeing are investors willing to buy 1-3 cheaper properties rather than risk the bigger dollars on more sensitive markets. And prices in such areas are rising due to this increased activity- interesting times

 

Hi Jacque
I'm seeing this as well.
I just bought a dual income property in the better part of Mt Druitt and paid 20% more than what the vendor had paid in 2007