May Wrap

May saw lots of wet weather and as mentioned last week less new listings and less sales. Renovated homes or properties in premium locations are selling really well, the rest of the market is a bit softer. Speaking with buyers this week quite a few have decided to put their search on hold and wait to see what is ahead for interest rates later in the year. With retail sales being at their lowest growth rates in years with a 0.1% increase in April, unemployment starting to rise and April’s inflation numbers rising I feel people are catching their breath after a busy first 5 months of the year. What does this mean for real estate and property? Unfortunately more of the same with limited property supply on the Northern Beaches and more people wanting to buy than sell. As a result of this, I feel as soon as buyer confidence picks up with talk of interest rates falling we will see more upward growth in apartment and house prices.

I am still seeing a lot of adult children moving home to save for their first home purchase or save on the mortgage payments. This is blocking the normal buyer cycle where families upgrade to larger houses and families with older children moving out looking to downsize. It is definitely creating a shortage of properties for sale in Clontarf, Balgowlah Heights and Seaforth. We are also seeing a few residences come back onto the market after not selling last year or earlier this year. It will be interesting to see if they achieve the same price as before or a higher or possibly lower price. I’ll let you know.