Real Estate NSW - Property NSW

Real Estate Sydney NSW - Recent Trends

1. Sydney Real estate - Recent Trends
2. Sydney Property Investing
3. Sydney’s Better Performing Suburbs

On the apartment markets, there has been evidence of developers unloading units at bargain prices as investor interest falls away. Banks restricting their lending ratio in some postcodes to just 60 per cent have not helped clear the burgeoning oversupply. 

One healthy sector has been the first home buyer market for properties below $500,000, with interest boosted by the Carr Government's abolition of stamp duty for first home buyers. "That is holding up the development market in the outer regions, but it is also supporting the prices for one - or two - bedroom units nearer the city, " says Dupre.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) house price index also points to falling prices. Sydney was the only capital city to report a price fall, down 0.1 per cent in the quarter and 3.4 per cent over the year to March. It was the first time since 1992 that Sydney’s house price index failed to rise. 

Commenting in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, Louis Christopher of Australian Property Monitors said: “If we saw another rate rise we would see housing prices fall across the board." 
Sydney’s high cost of housing makes it particularly vulnerable to interest rate rises. In March, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised official rates to 5.5 per cent, a four-year high. 

Some of the signs of a Sydney property slowdown include: 

• The House Price Guide reports that it is taking longer to sell a house or unit in Sydney (now 92 days by private treaty) and that many vendors are having to slash their asking price to secure a sale (the discount rate averages 7.5 per cent) 
  
  
• Sydney’s auction clearance rate for April remained static at 42 per cent
  
  
• Lending to owner occupiers has slumped 2.3 per cent against 2003 levels.

There’’s no doubt that the Sydney market has cooled in certain areas, but don’’t be fooled by thinking that every property is at a bargain basement price. There are some good buys out there, but you do need to be very wise in your negotiating and research tactics to find out what you really should be offering at the end of the day. 

Vendors have softened their approach to buyers over the last twelve months and are willing to negotiate more realistic prices, but once again don’’t think that you’’re the only buyer out there at the moment, because the market in certain areas is still strong and moving per annum at anywhere from 5 to 10 percent.

The high density unit market has slowed up considerable in the CBD of Sydney, but units that are in small blocks with incredible water views, and well located to shopping centres are in high demand.