When lockdown finally ended and our first round of open inspections were eerily quiet I was a bit concerned. Could the market have turned that quickly? Where did all the buyers go?
Turns out they were all hungover and/or shopping. Phew!
There’s no doubt the dynamic has changed since our freedoms returned. During lockdown 6.0 real estate became the main focus for anyone wanting to get into the market, upgrade, invest or otherwise escape the confines of their current home / isolation center. Demand was supercharged while stock was restricted.
We will look back upon October 2021 as the perfect storm for real estate – nine months’ worth of demand unleashed upon three months’ worth of stock condensed into a single month, with buyers having nothing else to do but browse, inspect, and then compete for a very limited number of homes.
The result… a frenzy of bidding and some truly staggering prices. Clearance rates north of 90% and reserves being smashed by hundreds of thousands of dollars as the norm, not the exception. Prices were literally going up tens of thousands of dollars a week.
It was never going to last. And now we are experiencing just a regular, strong market.
A market that continues to hold up well for now, with clearance rates above 80% even during back-to-back ‘Super Saturdays’ with 1300+ auctions.
Inspection numbers and bidder numbers seemed to have normalised, while prices continue to be very solid across the board. The rate of growth has diminished, but the latest stats show that prices are still increasing.
It seems that it will take a bit more than the distraction of a long weekend, pubs reopening and travel resuming to slow this market down.
We are expecting February to start well with some quality stock driving demand after a relatively normal, open and sunny festive summer break. We hope.
If you’re a potential seller thinking about a February or March auction, now is the time to be engaging your agent to lock in some favourable dates.
If you’re a buyer, stay tuned for some excellent off market opportunities in the lead up to Christmas. From next week we won’t be listing any new auction campaigns for 2021.
Please let us know if we can help on either front.
Feature Image: 79a Rowena Parade, Richmond
David Sciola 