Ninja In A Blazer - February 2025

One of the best things about living in Australia is the multicultural society that we live in and that we get to celebrate many of the different cultures’ special occasions. The 29th of January was Lunar New Year that goes for 15 days, we would like to wish a Happy Lunar New Year for all of those that celebrate and wish you a prosperous 2025. This year is the year of the snake and it’s your year if you were born on 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, and 2013.

Ready, Set …. GO

January has shown to be one of the strongest sales markets we have seen in over a decade, in terms of the number of properties sold. Our team saw more than double the number of houses being transacted and the average time on market less than 2 weeks proving we have confident buyers and a strong market. This was not expected as traditionally January has been one of the slowest months of the year due to buyers and sellers being away for the holidays. We believe this is likely the sign of what is to come in 2025. We will expect the market to remain strong and will continue to grow. If we do see a rate reduction which is expected by most banks it will definitely help to push the market ahead. At recent open homes, buyers are still saying that there are not a lot of properties for sale, this is despite there being a definite increase in properties being on the market.

What types of buyers are out there?

We have found that there is a great mix of homeowners and also investors in our local area that are active in the market place but we have found that the majority of successful buyers are home owners that are willing to pay the highest price in the market. We have found that investors are making offers but often make it based on rent return rather than what we believe market value is for the property. With interest rates at 6% and an average gross return under 4%, the out-of-pocket cost to hold on to the property can be significant which affects investors’ affordability.

We have found most investors are coming through our Buyers’ Agent network who are generally buying on behalf of interstate investors from Sydney and Melbourne where they are prepared to pay top dollar but also providing potential sellers with flexible terms like rent or long settlement.

Rate is likely to drop, should I wait to sell?

There has been a lot of media coverage around the latest inflation figures and interest rate cuts. Due to this, we are getting potential sellers and even current sellers asking us about the impact of the rate drop. Just a reminder that we are not Economists, but we do like to share our opinion based on previous experience and current conversations with buyers. We have found like many news articles; the impact is already being seen. The fact that we have a record number of property transactions in January with multiple offers we believe that the potential of rate cut has already been taken into consideration by many buyers.

Buyers do still have serviceability issues, and their borrowing capacity is generally capped by this. So, whilst they’re keen to take on bigger loans to pay more, they’re simply unable to get the appropriate loan approval for the amount they’re needing to buy their dream homes.