Auction Bonanza!

It was a homebuyer's bonanza in Sydney on Saturday as 700 properties, the most listings in 16 months, went under the autioneer's hammer.

Under cloudless blue skies, home-hunters came out in droves to bid on a variety of homes, units and townhouses.


The soft market which has seen prices on a downward slide did not deter sellers on the pre-Easter Saturday - traditionally the first big selling day of the year - with almost 100 more properties listed than the same day 12 months ago.


Clearance rates have been rising steadily in the past six weeks to just over 60 per cent, 10 per cent higher than last spring's selling season.


Numbers of first-home buyers had also not fallen as far as expected since stamp duty concessions were cut at the end of last year, said head of real estate strategy at Macquarie Group Rod Cornish.


In January, new buyers took out 2686 home loans compared with 1585 in 2011, latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show. All indications were that it was still a buyer's market and any recovery in prices was still on the horizon, property experts said.


"It's still a very tough environment for sellers," said AMP chief economist Shane Oliver.


"Prices will continue to drift lower so it's not a bad time to be looking around."

Live the ocean lifestyle at Greenhills Beach

Australand will release the next stage of its coveted beachside suburb Greenhills Beach, near Cronulla, on February 18. Specifically designed for family lifestyles in a natural environment, Greenhills Beach is set to become a standout beachfront community within the Sutherland Shire. The first land lots in the development were released in August last year, with all 33 lots sold within weeks.
Australand General Manager, New South Wales Residential, Nigel Edgar said Greenhills Beach would be a masterplanned community offering an enviable beachside lifestyle in the Shire.


“The beautiful natural environment at Greenhills Beach includes 91 hectares of public open space, bushland, parks and reserves - almost half the size of Sydney’s Centennial Park and almost three times the size of the Royal Botanic Gardens,” Mr Edgar said.


“We are thrilled to be able to offer families the opportunity to live in such a stunning location and excited to release new lots in this popular new community.”


The next land release of 35 lots consists of:
• 11 lots in the Bay precinct, ranging in size from 555 square metres to 663 square metres;


• 13 lots in the Lake precinct, ranging in size from 551 square metres to 581 square metres; and


• 11 lots in the Beach precinct, ranging in size from 558 square metres to 735 square metres.
Prices for the lots will range from $690,000 to $1.02 million.
Adjoining the suburb of Cronulla, Greenhills Beach is beautifully positioned between Wanda Beach and the waters of Botany Bay, with entry from the main access road of Captain Cook Drive.
Along with direct beach access, Greenhills Beach residents will enjoy family-friendly infrastructure and facilities including parks, playing fields and cycle paths, as well as close proximity to Cronulla schools.
For more information or to register an interest in Greenhills Beach contact Peter Geraghty or Matt de Boeron 9528 9299 or visit www.sanders.com.au

Greenhills Beach Land Sale

A unique lifestyle opportunity!

Greenhills Beach is like no other beachside suburb in Sydney and will make the Sutherland Shire an even better place to live. Created especially for families seeking a natural lifestyle by the sea, it offers a wealth of natural advantages and a unique living opportunity. All in a tranquil, unspoilt environment, just 2kms from vibrant Cronulla.

Welcome to Greenhills Beach. Destined to become one of the Sutherland Shire’s, and Sydney’s, most sought after beachside residential destinations.

The natural choice to build your new home, just moments from the white sandy beaches of Cronulla.

see more details at http://www.sanders.com.au/ or call Peter Geraghty on 61-2-95289299

STAMP DUTY STAMPEDE
Industry experts are predicting a surge in property sales as first home buyers rush to enter the market after the NSW government announced stamp duty concessions would be cut from January.



First-time buyers of an existing unit or house will no longer be eligible for discounts on stamp duty that can be as high as $18,000, from January 2012.


Sanders Property Agents director Peter Geraghty said the budget announcement was a factor in last weekend’s unusually high clearance rates. “It’s a factor but it’s coupled with traditionally lower stock for this time of year and the tenth consecutive stable interest rate announced last week.” He said a lot of vendors were holding out for the school holidays which accounted for a delay in new stock on the market.


Mr Geraghty said first home buyers would continue to be prominent. “From now until January, you’ll see a surge of first home buyers buying both old and new properties,” he said. “There’s still going to be great incentives for first home buyers post January because we’re seeing some three year fixed rates through the major lenders below the standard variable rate.”


Today first-home buyers of new and existing homes priced under $500,000 do not have to pay the $18,010 stamp duty. There are also concessions for all properties priced up to $600,000 on a sliding scale.
Therefore, a home purchased for $550,000 has reduced stamp duties of $11,245 from the full rate of $20,260.


A spokesperson at the Office of State Revenue (OSR) said next year first-home buyers of new homes priced under $600,000 must apply for stamp duty concessions within three months of the purchase date. They will receive a 25 per cent discount as long as construction has begun and the property has never been occupied or sold. First-time buyers of off-the-plan properties have 15 months to apply for the concession.

HOW TO SELL IN A SOFT MARKET
The clearance rate across Australia’s capital cities is currently around the 50 to 55 per cent mark. To compare, a clearance rate above 60 per cent represents normal market conditions and above 80 per cent represents a boom.


When clearance rates are low, it means the price that many sellers want for their homes is not the price that the market is willing to pay.

Pricing is probably the most difficult part of the selling process for vendors to come to grips with. You have to understand and get comfortable with the fair market value of your home in today’s climate.


If you and the market are not too far apart on price, a good agent may be able to get you there. The first step is to price your home correctly at fair market value and at a level you are comfortable with. (Importantly, you must never ‘underquote’ – this is against the law.)


Once you’ve got this right, a good agent will then use strategic marketing to maximise the level of buyer interest and competition for your home. Competition is the key. But buyers won’t come if you start your campaign with an unrealistic price.


If the price is wrong, even the best home in Australia can sit there unsold for ages. I have seen some of Australia’s finest homes sell for less than their true value after remaining on the market for an extended period. When a home takes more than a few months to sell, rumours can start. Everyone wants to know what’s wrong with it. People start focusing on all the negatives to do with the property.


The key to extracting a premium price for a property – in any location, at any time, in any market – is emotionally connecting a number of buyers to your home and creating competition between them.


But the asking price has to be fair and reasonable from the start in order to build the interest and thus the competition. And I emphasise this point – it has to be right from the start. Here’s why.


There’s a phenomenon in selling real estate that I call the buyers’ wave. What I’ve found is that the first three to four weeks that a home is on the market is when you get the maximum amount of buyer interest.


Think about it. Unless they’ve started looking this week, buyers are mainly on the lookout for NEW listings. After a few weeks on the home hunt, they’ve probably seen most of the suitable properties in their preferred areas and price range. So when a new property hits the market, there’s a great flurry of buyer activity, with lots of people attending inspections. After four weeks, buyer interest tends to tail off quite dramatically.


So here’s the challenge if you’re looking to sell in today’s slightly softer market, you need to get comfortable with fair market value and price your home accordingly. And you need to invest in an experienced local agent who has the marketing resources to attract the maximum number of buyers. From there, the buyer competition and the agents’ negotiating skills will result in the best possible price.

source: switzer.com.au

decline in home values

Australia's sluggish housing market remained just that in the first three months of this year with prices falling 0.6 per cent nationally, according to the latest data.


Sydney prices fell marginally, by 0.4 per cent, Melbourne flatlined and Canberra was the only capital city where median house values actually rose in the quarter by a slim 0.2 per cent, according to Australian Property Monitors' March quarter house price index.


Other capital cities experienced larger price slumps: Hobart fell 2.3 per cent, Brisbane 2 per cent, Darwin 1.6 per cent, Perth 1.1 per cent and Adelaide 0.6 per cent.


Story continues below The data for Melbourne contradicts recent Real Estate Institute of Victoria figures which show a significant 6 per cent fall, by $36,000 to $565,000, in the city's median house price.
APM puts Melbourne's median house price in the March quarter at $563,397.
Sydney's median house price was $80,316 higher than Melbourne's at $643,713. It increased 2 per cent increase over the year.
The median price for units also fell in the March quarter by 1.2 per cent nationally to $406,279, but was up over the year by 0.4 per cent. House prices were up year-on-year basis by 0.2 per cent, APM said.
Capital city home values were absolutely flat in February following a seasonally adjusted 1.5 per cent drop in January, RP Data-Rismark researcher Tim Lawless said.


“Evidence to date shows that the Australian housing market is making a very controlled exit from the strong growth conditions of 2009/10," Mr Lawless said.


The fall in house prices follows near-record levels of housing stock coming on the market, the period homes are advertised for sale has also lengthened considerably.

Last month Reserve Bank of Australia chief Glenn Stevens said he was not "terribly troubled" about the level of house prices in Australia as house price to income ratios were "not exceptional by global standards."

source: sydney morning herald

BUYER v VENDOR
Transparency and privacy are the twin pillars of any auction. People have long been screaming about shoddy practices, including dummy bidding and under-quoting. You could argue things have improved greatly since dummy bidding has been banned. But there are still frequent complaints about opaque selling methods and lax disclosure.
The main concerns are inevitably about the auction system. Low quoting comes in for particular attention, as does passing-in properties even though the top bid is within the price range quoted by estate agents. Some critics even go so far as to propose that to fix these problems the real estate industry should be treated like the stock market, with its legislated transparency and continuous disclosure processes. But is it feasible or even desirable for these rules to be applied to property?
There is a critical difference between a typical financial asset - say an ASX-listed stock - and residential property. A stock holding is a share of a publicly listed company. You only own it for the purposes of investment. In contrast, a residential property may well be an investment, and is something that is traded, but it is also - here is the key issue - a private asset. And while one share in a company is identical to another, every residential property is unique.
Understandably then, property owners are often fiercely self-protective. In fact, they have an almost primeval expectation of privacy and a distinct aversion to attempts by others to impinge on what they can and can't do, including how, when and whether to sell.
So any initiatives to improve transparency must strike a balance between improving governance and not crossing a line where home-owners and investors will rebel due to breaches of privacy. The inherent tension between these competing demands can never be completely resolved to everyone's satisfaction. But we can go some way towards striking a better balance and further enhancing transparency.