Meet Bob and Linda.
They didn’t select a winning agent.
Meet Bob and Linda.
They didn’t select a winning agent.
Real Estate March Madness…
While there’s some talk we are in a property bubble, the harsh reality is that with 100,000 babies being born in Sydney each year, and the inflows of immigration into greater Sydney, it’s hardly any wonder why demand is exceeding supply. As we go into our 5th year of solid growth, what we are seeing is a paradigm shift in both the Sydney and Melbourne markets – Sydney is becoming a true global city and a destination.
Every property listed receives hundreds of email enquiries and there’s no doubt that demand is outstripping supply and will continue to do so in the years ahead. The mere thought of trying to find cheaper housing solutions within the Sydney basin is akin to trying to stop a tidal wave of demand. The banks have tightened their lending criteria for developers, which will have the knock-on effect of tightening supply even more.
We are in the very lucky position to have a number of really interesting properties listed ranging from brand new units in Kensington, to premium properties in Willoughby and Riverview, and mid-range properties in Riverview and Lane Cove.
For those looking for a renovation project or re-build, we have a property coming up in Greenwich very soon. We have more listings that are being prepared for market and encourage you to register your interest and join us on Facebook for real time updates.
The rental market fluctuates with good months and bad months. There’s low stock of houses in Lane Cove at the moment, however there is ample apartment/unit stock within the Lane Cove precinct with rents holding steady.
regards,
Andrew Bruce
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
I have recently approached the NSW Government Minister for the Office of Fair Trading to raise concerns over the lack of full transparency with when it comes to agent/buyer, and agent/agent discussions over the disclosure of sales results. In “Will Underquoting Ever Actually Stop?” Sasha De Bilde states:
Whilst it is all good and well that the Office of Fair Trading has brought in major changes to what agents can say when it comes to the marketing of a property, in reality, nothing has actually changed. Not the fault of the OFT, obviously something had to be done, but the changes have made no real impact into the actual problem… ‘Under-quoting’.
Whilst an agent can no longer say “offers over” or put a ‘+’ symbol after a price, the truth is, the agents that were most guilty of doing it before are still doing it now – in a slightly different way.
I totally agree with Sasha. The total market is entitled to have a better understanding of the actual dollar values properties are being sold for at the time of sale, rather than waiting 3 months to get the information via the Lands Title Office when the information is out of mind and out of date.
Some agents could be using blanket non-disclosure of nearly all of their property sales as a potential cover up of underquoting. While on the subject – when it comes to reporting of sales many agents are advising the public and buyers when asked the question “what did that property sell for?” with a response along the lines of “that information is confidential” or “the vendor has requested non disclosure of the sale price”. That has to be absolute rubbish as only about 2-3% of vendors have ever requested non-disclosure of the sale price with my sales. I took the liberty and personally checked the validity of other agent’s claims of non-disclosure with vendors of other agent’s sales. The vendor’s response was they had no knowledge of that arrangement or ever gave those instructions to their agent.
I have been in sales for 37 years and with some authority can say good sales people are more than willing to tell of their sales success results.
This week I received a direct marketing piece in my letterbox from a large franchise agent who was proudly advertising the fact she sold a property over reserve by $360K. Well sorry, but one has to ask the question: Isn’t that a case of underquoting?
Or does the agent not have a clue on what they are doing? With a sale price of just over the $2.M mark and other recent sales in the area to support that sale price, well it does appear to be over the 10% range the office of Fair trading allows agents to quote in. Can agents get it that wrong? I will let you be the judge.
regards,
Andrew Bruce & Samia Malouf
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
Welcome to 2016! We trust you’ve had an enjoyable break and spent summer with friends and family. To kick-start our blog for 2016, we thought we would share some insight into the property market and the wider economy for the year ahead.
According to leading chief economist Shane Oliver from AMP Capital, the Sydney property market has become so stretched that price growth will be weak in 2016 and prices are likely to fall in 2017.
“I think because the property market has become so stretched, particularly in Sydney, it has been enough to tip the cycle back down again,” he said. “This year we will see weak price growth and then next year we might actually see price declines.”
Mr Oliver believes house price growth has peaked, and that the wealth effect of rising property prices will begin to weigh on consumer spending for the economy.
However, it’s important to remember that we have seen these cycles go up and down for the last decade:
A downswing in the property cycle is usually triggered by monetary tightening, which has been fairly constrained over the last 12 months. However, Mr Oliver noted that the out-of-cycle rate hikes of the banks towards the end of 2015 dampened sentiment and dramatically shifted expectations.
One of the reasons that investors have backed right off is that sentiment regarding expectations for home prices has completely reversed. It has gone from “we’ve got to get in now otherwise we’ll miss out and prices are up 15 per cent per annum and that will continue”, to a fundamentally dented, more cautious sentiment.
Consequently, auction clearance rates started to fall and house price growth slowed towards the end of 2015. However, as the property market cools down in Sydney and Melbourne, it does provide some scope for first home buyers to get into the market.
In terms of the economy, January is always the month used to predict the share market for the rest of the year. There are a lot of interesting plays influencing sentiment at the moment. Banks are short selling everything which is causing uncertainly. However they capitalise on the bad news by the short sell. China is not heading as far south as the media would lead us to believe – it is easing, but the value of their economy is far stronger than what it was at the height of the GFC.
The current message, perception and sentiment doesn’t always match the numbers. As part of this sentiment, Economist Scott Francis from the Eureka report notes that it’s worth considering whether the “Other January Effect” – the idea that market returns in the month of January predict the overall returns for the year ahead – is a useful idea for investors. He argues that based on past performances, the January Effect holds little weight.
In terms of property, a Chatswood real estate agent shared with me that he had over 41 people through a property’s first open for inspection. If that’s a declining market we will take that any day of the week.
regards,
Andrew Bruce, Samia Malouf, and staff.
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
Two of Sydney’s best-kept secrets? No, it’s not Samia and I, it is of course Lane Cove and Riverview. Last Sunday, our thoughts on the local market were featured in Domain. Please see the story below.
click on the image above for a larger version
Lane Cove and Riverview are perfectly situated to advantage of close proximity to the CBD, Chatswood, North Ryde, and the Macquarie Park business district. Families and young professional couples make up the bulk of the local population, and enjoy a variety of local shopping and dining options, parks and outdoor spaces, and access to excellent private and public schools. Quick access to Chatswood and Macquarie Centre provides residents with greater shopping and entertainment options.
Due to recent development in Lane Cove, Lane Cove North and Linley Point, unit stock is in good supply. Housing stock has been in over supply for the spring season and will tighten up for Christmas and the New Year. Lane Cove house stock consists of three main property types: Original Post War, Original renovated, and new build. The price points for these homes are $1.8-$1.9m, $1.9-$2.5m, $2.7-$3.4m respectively.
Both Andrew and Samia have lived locally for over 20 years and believe Lane Cove and Riverview are Sydney’s best kept secret. There’s good buying at present. Who knows what is ahead for 2016? Recent commentary suggests low single digit growth next year.
regards,
Andrew Bruce, Samia Malouf, and staff.
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
We market a number of Riverview and Lane Cove properties, so you would think that someone searching for properties in Longueville and surrounding suburbs would see Riverview (the next suburb) when they widen their search to surrounding suburbs using www.RealEstate.com.au correct?
No. When both us and our vendor tested Real Estate’s surrounding suburbs option, when searching Longueville properties, we saw, Balmain, Rozelle, Hunters Hill, Artarmon properties, but nothing for Riverview! Why is this important? Well you may think we’re just worried about our own listings (which we are of course!) BUT we’re concerned for all potential buyers who aren’t seeing all the possible properties bordering Longueville. We are responsible to our vendors to ensure the maximum number of potential buyers view their property. RealEstate.com.au isn’t helping our commitment to our customers and is literally wasting the vendor’s valuable marketing dollars.
When we complain to the REA’s customer service desk they take very little interest, don’t really understand the issue, and don’t want to do anything about it. We just receive a diatribe of excuses as to why it cannot be fixed.
regards,
Andrew Bruce, Samia Malouf, and staff.
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
I’m sure you’ve seen it. You check your mail box and find glossy post cards from local real estate agents. Despite all the words and photos of recent properties sold, the price of recent sales are nowhere to be seen.
There’s plenty of “New Street Record” or “Quickest Suburb Sale” headlines in these brochures but not much else.
When contacting these agents, there is the usual: “my clients haven’t provided us with permission to publish results” or “in the current environment we can’t release these figures.” They will of course be more than happy to do an appraisal or meet with you to offer “guidance” using other agents’ published results.
A search on Domain.com.au or RealEstate.com.au won’t help much with these agents, as they won’t post results their either.
Experience counts in a changing market. Sydney’s boom is returning to a stable growth phase and experience in such a market is extremely valuable. It’s easy for some agents to claim they have sold X amount of properties in the past month, but at what cost to the vendor? Did they underquote to the buyer? Did they work on the vendor to drop their sales price expectations and achieve a quick fire sale? They may have sold X amount of properties in a month, but were they at the best possible market price? I would prefer an agent to dig in and work to achieve the best outcome for the vendor regardless of how long the process takes.
Some agents stand tall by their results. Evidence talks and pretty pictures walk.
regards,
Andrew Bruce, Samia Malouf, & staff.
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
This news piece from Domain below just confirms what we have been saying for many months on the subject of underquoting. We look forward to the new underquoting Bill passing through NSW parliament shortly (outlined below).
This will be a game changer for vendors and buyers and will stop dodgy agents overquoting to vendors (to secure a listing) or underquoting t0 sellers to hasten the sale no matter what the result. It will create realistic and evidence-based property pricing for sellers and buyers.
Agents will not be able to quote prices to buyers outside the selling agency agreement know as the “estimated selling price or price range”.
But agents have hit back at the data from price predictor tool realAs, saying the suburbs in question are being targeted by an international market and developers who are willing to pay above and beyond a reasonable market value.
RealAs figures, which compare the publicly quoted price to the eventual sold price of a property at auction, show the majority of the city’s worst suburbs for price quoting, including North Ryde, Gladesville, Epping and Lane Cove, lie north-west of the CBD. via www.domain.com.au
Underquoting describes when an agent understates the estimated selling price of a property. This can cause interested buyers to waste time and money on inspecting properties, getting reports and attending auctions based on misleading estimates of the selling price.
The NSW Government is introducing reforms that address underquoting in the NSW property market and provide clarity for buyers, agents and vendors. The reforms are designed to prevent properties being underquoted – that is, marketed at a price less than the agent’s true estimate of the selling price. The proposed laws would also enable effective enforcement. By setting clear requirements for agents to understand and adhere to, agents will be able to be audited against the new requirements and prosecuted if they breach them.
The reforms will be before the NSW Parliament in the coming weeks and are expected to commence in early 2016. Consumers can refer to this page for updates, while agents should check they are subscribed to our Property Industry News email alerts.
Simply because a property sells for higher than a buyer expects it to does not mean underquoting has occurred. Sometimes competitive buyer behaviour can result in a much higher sale price than what an agent could have reasonably estimated the property to sell for. The reforms will however require an agent to be able to show that their estimate was reasonable, up-to-date and evidence-based.
regards,
Andrew Bruce
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
The latest data provided by CoreLogic, shows house price growth continued to surge in Sydney with capital growth of 18.4 per cent over the last year.
Especially after recent rate increases on investor loans and changes to loan-value ratios? APRA (the Australian Prudential Regulator) flagged to banks that investor lending growth that is over 10 per cent will be viewed as a risk indicator in considering whether further action should be taken. With approval from the Reserve Bank, commercial banks have independently raised rates on new investor loans by between 0.27 per cent and 0.29 per cent. Many have also lowered the acceptable loan to valuation ratio (LVR) for new loan applications.
Debate about Sydney’s property boom bombards us almost every day, but as the chart from CoreLogic shows, even in Sydney, house price growth has been reasonable. An average annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent over the last 10 years is nothing to be alarmed of.
regards,
Andrew Bruce & Samia Malouf
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media:
There was a very healthy turnout for one of our recent auctions in Lane Cove. There’s strong demand as a recent Domain article by Kate Farrelly suggests.
With a swath of apartment developments under construction or newly built, there are plenty of units to choose from, but only nine houses on the market as Domain went to press.
So it’s little surprise that the median house price rose 19 per cent in the 12 months to March this year and now sits at $1,538,750, edging closer to the traditionally more expensive suburb of Willoughby, which has a median house price of $1.63 million.
Properties close to the newly upgraded village centre are keenly sought, with large family homes pulling record prices. There have been eight $2-million-plus sales over the past year, the highest in Little Street, which sold for $2,875,000 in November.
Locals like
It’s less than 10 kilometres to the CBD via the Gore Hill freeway and a short drive to the shopping and dining mecca of Chatswood. There are large expanses of bushland, including a slice of waterfront reserve, good primary schools and a growing choice of shops in the village and on Burns Bay Road, where a new IGA Express has opened its doors.
Andrew Bruce, Principal of Riverview Realty said: “We’ve seen massive price increases in the Willoughby Council area including Chatswood, Willoughby, Naremburn, and Chatswood West and it appears that some of this is rubbing off in Lane Cove with strong, above-market prices. The value-proposition of Lane Cove is finally being understood.”
“There’s a lot of talk in the market of a bubble, but according to Alan Kohler’s Eureka Report the Sydney market is about 14% above the historical trend line. What we’ve seen is not your classic property boom as it is now going on three years and it’s been front of mind for quite some time. According to recent reports, housing is set to grow by low single digits next year, suggesting a softer landing as opposed to a crash.”
“It would be fair to say that within the property clock cycle, we are coming up to the 12th hour.”
regards,
Andrew Bruce & Samia Malouf
Riverview Realty is a boutique agency focused on achieving the maximum price, with a client engagement that is above the industry standard. We call it the “Ultimate Experience” which forms part of our unique selling proposition.
Ph. 02 9420 0083, 59 Tambourine Bay Road, Riverview.
You’re welcome to connect with us on social media: