Thursday 9 July 2009

The canary in the housing market

From our anecdotal observations in just this area, the top end of the housing market has gone very soft. We've been thinking of moving, mainly because this place is falling down around our ears, and J has been keeping a close eye on local rental properties for some time.

The magic point in the market in this area seems to be around $650 per week for a 3 bedroom home. If you ask more than that, chances are no one will nibble, let alone bite. J has been watching asking prices drop from $750 and $700 a week by $50 to $80. And that's just in one week. Those properties at the top end - costing a grand or more - are advertised week after week after week.

However, if the price is $650 or lower, the place disappears from the market faster than a cow trying to cross a pirahna infested river.

I wonder if people are downsizing from the top end of the market - abandoning the $1200 apartment with the water views and settling for a $650 house that is a few blocks back from the harbour? Is that a sign that the froth has definitely left the economy?

2 comments:

kae said...

I doubt it's the suckers moving back from the rising ocean...

daddy dave said...

more to come, I'd say.
Sydney has the most ridiculously inflated housing market in both rental and purchase, and no amount of long-winded explanations about land shortage, or inner-city demand, or population growth will convince me otherwise.