First of all, Greetings to Every1, I am new here, long time reader and now finally - poster.
Looking to get into my first IP. Don't want to get too far out of my comfort zone. So looking to get a 2 or 3 bdrm unit in Carnegie, Ormond, East Malvern and the like... Been doing research and diligently attending auctions over the past 2 month. Now, 6 month ago the average price of a 2bed villa unit in Carnegie area was around 460k, based on my personal research. Now in the last four weeks the market here has simply exploded. Only last week, 2 bedder in renovated condition went for 576k. Yesterday, I went to see a 30 year old 2 bed villa unit in East Malvern. This was being auctioned off at around 500k.
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2008031230&prevChannel=Emails&prevPage=Email+a+Friend+Open+(postclick)&prevServer=Emails&s_cid=EmailAFriend:VIC
I couldn't believe my eyes/ears when this property sold for 705k yesterday. I am talking 8 squares of living in an unrenovated condition. This is just plain crazy. Anywhere I turn, people are paying 100-150k more than my percieved reasonable price should be.
What do I do? Do I jump in or wait till things settle?! Surely the market can't sustain such an explosive growth? It feel like a wrong time to buy in?! On the other hand, if I miss on the opportunity now, what would happen in 6 month? Another 20% rise?
Any suggestions/advise would be greately appreciated.
Cheers
Vlad