Weekly Market Wrap with Leigh Martinuzzi
Lockdowns continue and we continue to see a significant lack of supply to keep up with buyer demand. Will we see prices rise a further 10% before the end of 2021? What is noticed is that even with lockdowns in Sydney prices are still on the rise and the reason for this primarily revolves around supply vs. demand.
Generally, a good sign of a strong seller’s market is the auction clearance rates of Sydney and Melbourne. Last week, even though 22% of properties withdrew their homes from the auction with the onset of Sydney’s lockdowns, clearance rates remained strong at 76.6%. Many of the auction properties are selling prior to the online auction however the fact is they are still selling and in Sydney, prices are once again up by 0.5%. This is fairly consistent across the country with prices rising a further 0.4% last week.
Property shortage is evident and the number of properties available for sale is down 14% on the previous 12 months. Property owners are listing their homes for sale however there are that many buyers waiting on the sidelines that as soon as one is listed for sale they are being snapped up very quickly. Buyers continue to report that unless they knew the property was coming to market or have an immediate notification that it has been listed, they are often disappointed to hear it’s already under offer.
Locally the story is much the same. Last week we saw a number of new properties in the area come to the market and yet at the same time most are very quickly receiving strong multiple offers. Recently in Palmwoods one 4 bedroom home achieved a record price selling for $905,000. Another, dual living acreage property sold for $1.56M while another lovely acreage sold for $2M. We’ve seen properties in all price categories jumping ahead, a nicely renovated 3 bedrooms recently sold for $680,000.
It is difficult to think that prices will rise further however the major banks are still on the same wavelength suggesting prices will rise 20% to 30% in 2021. As Melbourne and Sydney go into lockdowns, we see a flux on new inquiries come in, and nearing the end of the lockdowns we typically see strong offers coming in from interstate buyers. Once the current Sydney lockdown finishes, I am confident we will see a further influx of Sydney-siders looking to make the move to the lovely Sunshine Coast.
