As a manager of a local Law Firm on the Central Coast and a former Licensed Real Estate Agent, I have had a keen eye on how the market and how it has reacted to the volatile conditions in the area and beyond.As expected there has been the usual increase in activity in these warmer months of the year leading up to Christmas but what wasn’t expected was the confidence buyers have had that the market conditions will improve. The media publications have gone hot and cold on the subject for quite some time and there is a general optimistic trend among sellers who have been patient over winter and are now achieving some favorable results.
That said there will always be activity in the property market by owner occupiers but the real trigger for newfound activity in the market are investors and while the stock market in making god returns for the small time investors there is no real incentive to get back into the staple property market.
Recently there was a report released in the media stating that rental prices will be up by 40% in the next 10 years or so; and this news, while not so great to renters, is confidence boosting for those in the property game.
An increase in rental prices will put many potential property buyers who have been on the border of renting verses buying for some time further into the buying camp. This injection of new players in the market will increase demand and see another spike in property values and push more people into the suburbs.
What does this mean for the Central Coasts property market? The average house price in the area is between $300,000 to $400,000 and unit price between $300,000 & $350,000 making it a relatively affordable option compared to the western suburbs of Sydney. This has already been experienced in the northern part of the Coast where massive new housing development has been extremely popular with ex-pat Sydney-siders due to it’s ease of access to the freeway, often being a quicker alternative to Western Sydney and traffic chaos.
It is difficult to say what will happen here on the Central Coast over the next 12 months with an additional rate rise looming and a 6% increase in new building approvals in the last Quarter.
Interest rates have played a big part in slowing the property market down here on the Coast but it surely hasn’t stopped it in its tracks. Summer vacancy rates in rentals, speculation of increased rental incomes and an ever volatile share market will all surely play a big part on the current and future market conditions.
Wayne Brown
Practice Manager
