PHOTO: Ray White
Looking back on February, our group sold almost $3 billion worth of property across Australia and New Zealand, which was 13 per cent lower than the same time last year. This decline was mainly as a result of lower number of sales on the prior year. There is no doubt that there are more potential buyers being active in the home search process at present, especially in Australia. We are seeing this in the numbers at our open for inspections and auctions, which are both well up 2018.
While there are more buyers, they remain cautious and in the absence of competition, are in general not prepared to improve their offers to meet vendor expectations. They feel that this is ‘their’ market, and time is on their side. As stock levels continue to rise,buyers seem comfortable to consider other options. Will potential buyers who do not transact look back on this time regretfully and say “that was a great time to buy….I wish I could have my time over!” In uncertain markets, buyers don’t find confidence by looking at the prices similar properties sold for last year, even last month. They find confidence by knowing that there are other buyers willing to pay a similar price to them for the specific property they are looking at. It is no surprise then that we have seen a small, but genuine, lift in auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne.Information is power in this market and we now have the data which proves that auctions are the best way to sell in all markets from Perth to Port Douglas and in Parnell for vendors to achieve the best possible price in the shortest possible time on market. Days on market for private treaty is up to three times that of auction stock which is makes for sobering reading in some markets when you compare the two selling methods.
There’s been some new corporate appointments this month too which will are already proving to enhance our support to the network.
READ MORE VIA RAY WHITE