Upper Mountains real estate market highlights
We have seen a strong start to the year with 8 properties ‘Under Offer’ and another 8 properties ‘Sold’. We have brought 15 new properties to the market so far this year which has been great for buyers (7 of these have already sold or are under offer).
Upper Mountains wrap up for 2018
AVERAGES
Village | Average house price | Ray White Price
Blackheath – Average $562,236 – Ray White $664,669
Katoomba – Average $584,975 – Ray White $668,182
Mt Victoria – Average $524,850 – Ray White $551,333
Medlow Bath – Average $588,826 – Ray White $599,700
(Source: PriceFinder January 2019)
HAPPY VENDORS
Ray White sold above the average sale price in all of their core selling areas in 2018. We also received 139 positive reviews from our customers during this period
Should you Auction your property on sell by Private Treaty?
Last year our office sold a total of 108 properties. 74% of these we sold by Private Treaty and 26% we sold by Auction. Last year we auctioned around a quarter of the properties that we listed.
We took 28 properties to Auction in 2018. We ran an auction each month at a variety of locations including Blackheath Golf Club, The Hydro Majestic ballroom and onsite. We achieved an auction clearance rate of 64%, with 78% of these properties selling above the reserve price.
So how do you decide if you should sell your home via Private Treaty or Auction? Both methods of sale have their merits. Private Treaty allows the seller more time to consider offers from buyers but you do have to be careful when setting the price that you don’t set it too high or too low. Auction creates a sense of urgency because there is a set ‘end date’ & this creates competition among buyers however some people do not like to buy or sell at Auction because they find it high pressure & intimidating. Ultimately the decision is down to the seller.
It is important when selecting an agent that you choose and agent who is highly experienced in both methods of sale so that when they recommend a method of sale for your property they are not just recommending it because it is the method they feel most comfortable using but the method that will get you the highest price for your property. If you are considering Auctioning your property it is always a good idea to attend a few Auctions in the lead up to educate yourself on the process.
Please find following our upcoming Auction dates;
3rd March 2019 – 12pm at Blackheath Golf Club
24th March 2019 – 12pm at Blackheath Golf Club
National real estate market highlights
CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher says weak conditions at the top end of the market are filtering through.
“There have been a lot more million-dollar suburbs in recent years in NSW and Victoria, and now that those markets are weakening quickly, you are seeing more suburbs fall out of the million-dollar bracket,” he said. NSW still has the most suburbs with median-value homes worth more than $1m at 366. Forty-six suburbs also have median-value units above the million-dollar mark. But the Hills district suburb of Box Hill in Sydney experienced one of the biggest median-value drops in the country, falling from $1.5m to $896,000 in a year. Victoria follows NSW with 129 “million-dollar” suburbs.
Realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee believes several of the postcodes, particularly those that pushed into the seven-digit median price range, did not belong there in the first place. “Everywhere overshot,” she said. “Prices like that were not sustainable.
“Now we are getting back to a more normal level. It all comes back to what buyers can pay.”
House prices are expected to come under further pressure as result of home loans plunging by the most since the global financial crisis, with price falls now tipped to double to about 14 per cent by leading economists at UBS. The bank’s economics team, led by George Tharenou, has predicted that the Reserve Bank will be forced to cut rates after Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealed homes loans had dropped by 6.1 per cent in December. The economists said that homes loans were the key lead indicator in their thesis that credit was tightening.
The positive news is that continuation of low interest rates without the suggestion of any dramatic increase, has provided a platform for people to enter the property market, great news for first home buyers.
Source: Mark McLeod & Brian White
