The 4069 Market is Heating Up Just in Time for Winter

How Hot is it!?

I haven't checked but it certainly feels like this winter has started much earlier and is much colder than normal. Historically June / July is a time where the real estate market takes a little winter siesta (personally, I think its just that buyers don't want to get out of their warm beds on a Saturday morning) but the opposite is definitely true at the moment.

The market is decidedly heating up again. Each cold but sunny Saturday, the buyers are out in growing numbers. And what's more, the last 2 unexpected interest rate rises don't seem to be tempering their enthusiasm to buy. Where the unrelenting rate rises of last year saw many buyers that were non-committal and anxious, the word most commonly used to cover the current buyer temperament is FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

A Case of FOMO

FOMO, if you follow real estate news closely, was the term also used during the COVID boom and it is for exactly the same reason then as it is now. Courtesy of a lack of new listings, the demand and supply gap is again widening. Just as with COVID, your average seller (i.e. those that just fancy a change as opposed to those that "have to" move for a new job, etc.) thinks it is a bad time to sell so are simply holding off until times improve. Little do most seem to know that now is an absolutely cracking time to sell simply because the competition is minimal.

As a real estate agent, I wouldn’t dare to make any predictions about what to expect from the real estate market for the rest of the year. Even the very best economists have struggled over the last few years with clear predictions on interest rate rises and real estate market growth or decline. What I can tell you with absolute clarity is days on market are dropping, multiple unconditional offers are again being repeatedly seen and sold prices are back on the rise.

But you don’t need to take my word for it, the stats for May also tell a compelling story. Listing numbers for Brisbane were down 24.4% vs the 5-year average while the median price went up by 1.4% … the 3rd month in a row we have seen growth! Auction clearance rates for the week ending 18th June in the Ray White group were were a whopping 72.5%!

In the last couple of months we have not only been generating great sale value results but we are back to a big increase in offers that are 100% unconditional. With the exclusion of 36 Sunset which was sold at auction, each of the properties below were sold within 10 days to a buyer who signed an unconditional contract.

The Takeaway...

I always say that the best time to sell is when it makes the most sense from both financial and personal standpoint. Trying to 2nd guess the future of the real estate market to perfectly time your own plans is virtually impossible. Undoubtedly though when buyer numbers are strong and competition is low would have to be deemed a "good time".

But if I can make one very strong recommendation if selling is on the agenda for you ... unless someone comes to you with an unconditional offer that is three times the acknowledged market value of your home, there is never ever ever a good time to take short cuts with your sales campaign. As with the COVID boom I am seeing a sharp increase in the number of off-market sales (where the property is not advertised on realestate.com.au etc and the agent just brings through a handful of buyers on a private inspection basis) and offers being accepted within 2 hours of the first open house. The only party that benefits from these types of activities is the agent who gets maximum reward for minimum effort.

I can 110% guarantee that until a property has been widely exposed to the market and the agent has thoroughly followed up and expertly negotiated with all buyers (I can assure you that if you have had 40+ groups through your house on a Saturday morning, to do that side of the job correctly takes a lot longer than just Saturday afternoon), you will never know that there weren't $10,000s if not $100,000s left out there that should have been in your bank account.