Changing Property Market?

Further to last week, the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday had an article titled “The Property Market Dropped, Then Boomed. Now It’s Changed Again”. It talks about the change in auction clearance rates in Australian capital cities peaking in June at 77.2% and in September the rate has slowed to 64.5%. In Sydney the rate for September 67.4%. A clearance rate under 60% would indicate a falling market.

Also this week the minutes of the last Reserve Bank Board meeting on monetary policy came out and showed discussion was had by the Board to consider lifting interest rates again as inflation is remaining higher than expected. Both the declining auction clearance rates and the speculations of higher interest rates is reflected in the slowing price growth I am seeing as a local agent. Buyers at present are more cautious and happy to wait if they can’t find the right property. On the other side the initial increase in Spring listings has slowed down which indicated that not many more properties will be coming on to the market this year. The price rises we have seen earlier in the year has slowed and I expect a neutral market to the end of the year.

We have a new waterfront listing on Seaforth Crescent. A beautiful site on 1,300m2 with a jetty. There is an original 2 bedroom cottage on the block, however this property is for people wanting to build a brand new waterfront home.