Month-In-Review-March-2015

Month in Review
March 2015
properties are selling for asking or above asking
price, often prior to auction. The most difficult
process for agents at the moment is obtaining
listings to sell. Moreover, there are no real signs that
certain sectors of the market are beginning to soften
and slow. Competition between buyers is strong and
often recent sellers are finding it hard to secure a
new property that matches their expectations in
terms of quality, location and price. .
When the market softens, as we
know it will, it’s often the unique
rural residential and top end
properties that historically are the
ones that will be hit the hardest.
It’s also the popular in vogue suburbs where the
boom cycle is being experienced that is affected
most.
Buyers are currently paying a premium for these
suburbs, most notably older renovated homes
located close to the beach and Wollongong CBD.
Valuers are also noting that investors are paying top
price for new units in the Wollongong CBD where
some are using their super funds to acquire the
purchase.
Modern new duplex homes in Flinders and Shell Cove
are also achieving strong sales as buyers are paying
high prices for obtaining new properties in these
areas. These sale prices might not be achieved in the
future once the home is no longer in new condition.
With more large unit residential developments
planned in the Wollongong CBD in the near future
and an abundance of supply in the new estates of
Flinders, Shell Cove and Brooks Reach Horsley, these
sectors may feel the effect once the market softens.
There are not many poor performing suburbs at the
present time, indicating how good market demand
actually is.
The best performing suburbs in the Illawarra area
at the moment appear to be in the north, starting
at Fairy Meadow, Towradgi and East Corrimal
but we are also seeing more top end sales in the
northern beaches around Thirroul. In the south it’s
the established suburbs of Shellharbour, Windang
and Warilla that have achieved significant increases
in value. These, together with Kiama to the south,
experienced a serious uplift in prices in the past 12
months.
More and more we are seeing investors entering the
market and pushing up prices often at the expense
of first home buyers, who are slowly being pushed
out of the market for standard dwellings close in.
Investors are also using their superannuation to
purchase property.
Overall we see a steady 12 months on the horizon,
buoyed by low interest rates. We do however caution
that if unemployment increases in the area, growth
will certainly be pulled back and from our experience
and observations over a number of property cycles,
it is the upper end property values that get hit
hardest.
Southern Highlands
The Southern Highlands residential property market
has seen a strong start to the year, with keen market
activity closer in to the town centres of Bowral,
Moss Vale and Mittagong in the $750,000 to $1.2
million bracket, which has been trading briskly with
short selling times. Buyers are a mix of retirees
coming off larger land holdings within the district,
or from Sydney and Canberra as well as families
moving within or into the area. The preference is for
smaller blocks within close proximity of established
infrastructure. For the year ahead, we anticipate this
trend to continue. The rental market in the Highlands
has increased over the last 12 months and remains
brisk.
There continues to be solid demand for vacant
land and house and land packages throughout
the Highlands region. New construction is mainly
concentrated in the Renwick-Mittagong precinct
and on the outskirts of Bowral and Moss Vale with
new house and land packages in the $450,000 to
$650,000 range. With the historically low interest
rate environment we would expect this trend to
continue for the current period.
The prestige upper end of the market (over $3
million) is best described as fragmented, albeit with
Residential
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