Nobody wants another ‘market update’. Just head on over to realestate.com if you want to see the latest sold figures or asking prices. Choose a variety of areas and you’ll see how prices have shot up in the last 12 months or so. Seriously, there’s so much information freely available these days, anyone can see exactly what the agents see in terms of trends. Median sale prices, days on market, volume of enquiry for each suburb, rental vacancies and lots more.
Given that I mostly buy properties in the Southern Highlands region (Bowral, Moss Vale, Mittagong, Exeter, Bundanoon and all towns in between), I’ve obviously seen first hand the way the market has moved rapidly upwards, thanks to lockdowns. General consensus was that this was due to our proximity to Sydney and the coast, our ability for locals to commute to major centres and our relatively stable internet. If you want to escape the city crowds, you come to the Highlands (or similarly, the Central Coast or Blue Mountains areas). But no, in recent months I’ve been engaged to buy investment properties in Albury, Wagga, Queanbeyan, Yass, Young Campbelltown and Liverpool and with the exception of Liverpool there are severe stock shortages literally everywhere and prices have driven upwards. I’m not saying it’s Australia wide, I mean, there are still a handful of houses in regional areas, particularly in SA, WA and Qld for under $100,000 in towns unfortunate enough to have taken a nosedive, mostly thanks to changes in local industry.
Do I have a crystal ball? No. Can anyone predict exactly what will happen to the property market? Well, no. We’ve never been through a worldwide pandemic at a time when money was so cheap. We’ve never had the technology we do now. We’ve never seen such changes in the world’s economy and employment as we have now. So, all I can tell you is that I am very happy I invested in real estate when I did. I’m not changing my future investment plans or waiting for a crash. I’m forging ahead with my plan to sell two of our properties early next year (while enjoying the huge growth they’ve experienced thanks to good old Covid), and will reinvest into a lower priced area to start the growth cycle all over again.
When you’re ready to get into the investment property market, give me a call and we can chat through some options that are best suited to your individual situation. When it comes to property, one size does not fit all and if you’re in it for the long game, you’ll appreciate that market fluctuations come and go. Place yourself well now and you’ll hopefully be on the right side of the market the next time we experience such huge growth.
Oh, and if you do want a market update, here’s my comments from a few months ago – still relevant today!