How's The Market - November 2023

Welcome to How's the Market going in November, 2023 for Newcastle & Lake Macquarie. Obviously we've had a lot of pressure in the community from a financial point of view. Over the last 12 months the cost of mortgage repayments from has increased significantly, the cost of living is increasing and even the cost of renting is going up as well.

But from a transaction point of view, if you own a property and you're looking at selling then the information in this blog should give you some confidence about moving forward. The main thing that we're looking at is supply and demand and that the amount of properties that has been for sale at any one time isn't outstripping the demand that we have in the area. This is coming from population growth, people moving to the area and particularly out of the capital cities. So over the last 12 months up until August there were 8,702 dwelling sales in the previous 12 months, which is around about 19% below the five-year average for the region. That's translated to median price increases across the board of about 2.2%. Listing volumes are definitely down. And if we take some of particular regions like West Lake Macquarie in the 12 months from October 22, To September 23 the sales volume there has been down nearly 35%, which is a huge drop.

That sales volume isn't down because there isn't demand because if there wasn't demand, we'd be saying prices falling. That sales volume is down because there's a limited amount of properties coming on the market for buyers to choose from. And that's keeping the status quo at the moment.

Moving into next year the only thing that may change the direction of our local property market is if we do see more houses come on the market as a result of the build up of financial pressures, where more people decide they need to sell their home because can't hold on to it anymore. And if that coincides with restrictions from a buyer point of view, in terms of not buying or not being able to borrow as much those two things might end up having an impact. But as we're tracking at the moment, everything would give you confidence moving forward about a sale.

One of the common questions I'm being asked recently is it too late to put your home on the market and the answer there is definitely no given our climate at the moment. Last year I had some clients who purchased another property at auction on the 17th of November. We got their home on the market within a week or so after that, took it to auction on 19th of December and sold just prior to the auction.

There's nothing different in the climate now compared to then and definitely still get sales happening if that's something on your agenda. If you're thinking about a sale early next year what we are encouraging people to do is to do the preparation now - get all your photos, contracts, everything ready. You can be available to buy quietly if you don't want to go fully on the market. But we also have some clients that are looking at launching just before Christmas on the 22nd, 24th of December and to build up that profile over Christmas and be ready for the new year before any other competition launches

So if you'd like to discuss those strategies, feel free to give me a call. If there's anything else I can help you with, we'd love to catch up. Thank you.

Sales Volumes for 12 month comparison

* Graphs and data courtesy of Chamberlain Brown Property Acquisitions www.chamberlainbrown.com.au