buyers market

[skuzy]

buyers or sellors market?

This maybe stating the obvious, but i wanted to see what other peoples experiences are.

Right now been browsing around for a new PPOR, and every agent ive visited have been telling me that the market is going 'bananas'. Market demand fairly high.

Anyone else experiencing the same? or am i unfortunate enough to be looking in the wrong areas?
Currently looking in hills district


Cheers.

 

[Sunfish]

Interesting post. Your heading says "buyers market" but your post seems to indicate you are finding the opposite. Then you ask if you are looking in the wrong places with the only hint on where you may be looking is "NSW".

 

[wylie]

Sounds more like a sellers' market from what you describe.

My area (inner south-eastern Brisbane - Coorparoo) seems to be slowing up, things still selling, but sitting on the market for longer than a year ago.

 

[Piston Broke]

After a few years of consolidating, I decided to go out to a few Auctions (SW Sydney) last few weeks, and I would NOT like to be in the shoes of an urgent seller atm.

 

[skuzy]

Interesting post. Your heading says "buyers market" but your post seems to indicate you are finding the opposite. Then you ask if you are looking in the wrong places with the only hint on where you may be looking is "NSW".

Your right sorry about being so vague.

Currently looking at Rousehill/castlehill area in Sydney.. Dunno about neighbouring suburbs.

I was with the belief it was a buyers market, but the agents talking the talk, it would seem the avg turnaround on property in those areas is something like 4-6wks.. which isnt much in my books??

Hope this clears it up a little.

 

[Stinktier]

I agree with piston, that its the same for the northern suburbs in Perth. Heaps of listings (that continue to grow) but not much movement - im also hearing the south is the same. Its becoming also easier to notice and predict some listings disappearing and reappearing with new agents and a lower price tag.

My opinion - and its a pure gut feel and probably going against a lot here- but i think Perth market will get hit badly over the next few 'years' (i mean worse than just a stagnation in prices). There is just too much, what i call, 'false' money here together with a heap of investors that began to bail last year but now having trouble moving their properties. For some reason the 'keeping up with the joneses' falls much more true here than anywhere else in Australia that ive seen.

Im going to keep an eye out on the rental market here (which is said to be tight) to see if it turns in the next 6-12months.

Would like to hear other points of view on Perth + surrounds.

 

[travelbug]

Sorry to disagree but I live in the Hills and have been watching for the past 2 months. I get Emails from a few agents in the area. Every few days I get "new price" or "price reduced" or Vendor instructs me to drop price". ETc Emails.

At least half a dozen properties have dropped $50,000 on their initial price.
A few have gone to auction and not achieved reserve. Now advertised at "revised price".

Most of these have been in Baulkham Hills but not exclusively.

Keep looking. If I wanted to spend $450-500,000 there have been a few good properties worth considering as a PPOR.

 

[skuzy]

interesting feed back. Thank you!
Have not looked into baulkhamhills. Mainly rousehill, kellyville area.

 

[MarkandTina]

One thing we do is have a short list on realestate.com.au and take note of how many properties on it go under contract each week.

Up until a month ago we were seeing a lot of sales, since then it has dried right up.

You might want to use a similar technique, create a short list of all properties in an area that meet your constraints and just note down the size of the list and how many of them are under contract on a week by week basis. You might see some trends.

 

[skuzy]

^^ did not know this function! thank you!

 

[farmilor]

Up until recently I was also looking for a PPOR in Castle Hill (we bought 3 weeks ago). We were looking walking distance to the towers only and found that most places either stayed on the market for a long time at their asking price or dropped their price and sold. We felt there was a fair bit of demand in the area, but buyers and sellers (and agents) had differing views on price. The sellers and agents were trying to hold onto the price they could have achieved 2 - 3 years ago, while buyers were only offering 'todays' lowered prices.

We eventually bought a 'renovators delight' 3 bed, 2 bath for $75K under the original asking price.

Plenty of properties in the area you are looking, just keep putting in low bids and you'll get one soon enough.

 

[J Martin]

Right now been browsing around for a new PPOR, and every agent ive visited have been telling me that the market is going 'bananas'. Market demand fairly high.



Cheers.

Don't know about you, but every single agent I've ever talked to has always told me the market is 'hot'. That's their job...to talk up the market so as to achieve the highest possible selling price.

Just ask them for some facts about number of sales in the area recently, if they achieved asking price etc etc.

From what I understand though, there are very few (if any) markets in the country right now going "bananas"

 

[skuzy]

thanks for all the feedback everyone!

 

[Drak]

Agreed agents will always talk it up to get the best price.
But just a few items I've noticed myself.
I grew up in Castle Hill and have lived in the area pretty much all my life.
I think now though there is "old" Hills area Castle Hill/ Baulko and "new" Hills area - Kellyville Ridge/Rouse Hill.
The "new" area has a lot of newer ammenities already close by or in the planning stages. Rouse Hill town centre (Shopping, eating, movies inc Gold class), Liesure centre (impressive aquatic centre), kind of close to QH train station, possibility of new train line, 2-day FM voted best Pub in Sydney near by and their competetion ain't bad either (very child friendly),easy access to M7/M2, Private/Public Schools in or planned,child care centres with vacancies, there's probabably a bunch of stuff I'm forgeting as well.

So after looking myself for a while I'm finding "old" hills has dropped a bit but "new" hills has held it's value somewhat (always exceptions). However as the "new" area is pure hardcore mortgage belt, the next year will be a telling time.

Just my thoughts - and for the record I 'don't work in RE.

CYAs

 

[boomtown]

Child friendly pubs... That speaks volumes about the demographic.

 

[Drak]

Get a couple of kids and you'll find out how big a selling point it is -LOL

Free Pony rides on a Sunday afternoon, brings the customer's in.

It really is a young family designed area, no ifs or buts there.

 

[wylie]

Child friendly pubs... That speaks volumes about the demographic.

This is an interesting comment, because it all depends very much on the area and on the pub and the clientele.

In Bulimba in Brisbane the pub used to be a really rough place (years ago). When we moved there in 1996 it was done up and had a children's play area installed, which meant that we could go to dinner and the kids had something to do while the meals were coming and while we had a coffee.

We never went to the pub to "drink" but only to eat, and with three kids, going to a restaurant was fraught with angst. Some other diners looked at us like we had brought something distasteful in with us, or we found we were too worried about one of the kids spilling things etc etc. Those with kids will understand what I am saying (and probably those without kids too ).

So, for many young families who want a meal out, a kid friendly pub is a must better proposition than a restaurant, at least until the kids are older.

Now that the Bulimba pub has had two makeovers, each several million in value, I believe I wouldn't take the kids there any longer (but not sure as I have not been there for a while). It appears to cater to a different market again. I did hear a while back that people were being knocked back because they had the "wrong" type of shirt on (or something silly like that).

 

[boomtown]

Thanks Wylie for that - I envisioned parents taking their children to the pub to get hammered at 10 am on a Sunday morning.

 

[BV]

Up until a month ago we were seeing a lot of sales, since then it has dried right up.
.

When vendors see that they can't achieve their expected price
they will either drop their selling price or will take their property off the market.

Both actions result in less properties on the market so as a buyer
you could end up with less choice than before.

Cheers

 

[Jacque]

This maybe stating the obvious, but i wanted to see what other peoples experiences are.

Right now been browsing around for a new PPOR, and every agent ive visited have been telling me that the market is going 'bananas'. Market demand fairly high.

Anyone else experiencing the same? or am i unfortunate enough to be looking in the wrong areas?
Currently looking in hills district


Cheers.

Hi Skuzy

Seeing as I'm in the thick of the market and know the Hills fairly well I feel well qualified to comment here and perhaps assist with some useful feedback.

As a buyers agent, I can tell you that it's NOT a sellers market out here in the Hills: naturally there's exceptions and there are some properties that have something "special" about them (specific builder, location, features, high demand street etc) that have sold quickly and close to their asking price. However, these are rare and the overall the market is pretty slow and there are some real bargains out there for those looking to capitalize on all the doom and gloom.
Sellers who are having to sell now are doing so either because they're buying back into the same market (upgrading, downgrading, in which case it's pretty relative as they're trading in the same market) or for other reasons (investors having to offload, mortgage stress cases etc) and there really are some vendors out there at the moment who have no choice but to sell in this current environment, so negotiating well in a buyers market can save you so much more than any sellers market. Especially if you're in the market, know it well and recognise the opportunities.

The situation we have now (and I can only speak for Sydney here) is really interesting, as so many investors and home buyers I've spoken to are in "wait and see" mode- the old sitting on the fence theory. The downside to this is because so many buyers get caught up with all the negative news (hyped up by the media) their decision to wait can be costly. After all, when the news starts to become positive and the outlook a little more promising for property, all the fence sitters jump off at the same time and end up pushing up prices (and therefore lessening supply) which stimulates the next part of the cycle.

Anyway.... I digress.
As to what agents say, always take it with a grain of salt. After all, they can't talk the market down when they're trying to sell you something
Every second agent I meet tells me the market is good/steady/bumping along nicely. Yeah, sure
I let my research tell me otherwise and keep plugging away with those lower offers. Recent sales and market histories don't lie

Keep tabs on the market- purchase yourself some sales data if you want to see what's recently sold (residex homepriceguide etc) and try not to listen to the hype some agents generate (it's called creating urgency and some are masters at it). After all, they are salesmen and you need to do your own due diligence as a buyer, not just listen to what they tell you.

Happy hunting
Which suburb are you looking to buy in? I love the Hills- it's a wonderful place to live!