Although last week was a short week, it wasn’t short on sales. 27/12-16 Chelsea Street Redfern sold after the first inspection for $685,000, just four days after it was listed. Similarly, 2/13-15 Glen Street Marrickville was also only on the market for four days and traded after the first inspection for $520,000 less than a year after it sold for $470,000 in June of 2022.
We didn’t schedule any auctions for the long weekend but we conducted 17 open homes on Saturday and met 264 buyers - a strong level of activity for a long weekend. Low levels of stock continue to drive competition across Inner City suburbs, with realestate.com.au reporting a 36.4% drop in new listings across their website for the first quarter of this year compared to last. This statistic doesn't reflect the experience of Adrian William, which has sustained a 37.5% increase in sold listings during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, while realestate.com.au's Proptrack recorded a 17.5% drop in sold listings across the board for the same period.
Realestate.com.au isn't the only source reporting on the dire condition of the Sydney property market over the last year. CoreLogic data shows a 9.4% peak-to-trough national drop in property values, with Sydney's 14% dip leading the nation in what CoreLogic described as 'the largest housing market downswing on record.' It's not all bad news, though. A 14% drop in Sydney's property values isn't as catastrophic as the 20% fall once predicted and although there's no way to guarentee we won't see further declines, leading economists suggest that the market bottomed out in February. Small but notable increases in sale prices across the harbour city since early March indicate a market in recovery.
Buyer sentinment continues to improve following the RBA's decision to pause the cash rate at 3.6%, an encouraging sign following Domain's 2023 First Home Buyer Report, which suggests that young couples entering the market with an average income would need to dedicate 50.9% of their earnings to initial mortgage repayments on an entry-level house in Sydney, a steep incline from the 31.5% required in 2021.
A significant rise in interest rates over the last 12 months has left homeowners grappling with skyrocketing mortgage repayments and buyers with markedly reduced borrowing capacities. A pause on further rate increases was welcome news for buyers and owners alike, and with the first signs of inflation curbing - in part due to post-pandemic migration - the upswing is predicted to continue.
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