Weekly Wrap up - Get up to speed, Valuers!

We are spending an extraordinary amount of time working with Valuers on sale prices for properties.

When you buy, the amount you can borrow against a property is determined mainly by two things. Your capacity to pay (usually a maximum of 30% of your gross income for ALL debt based repayments - including credit cards, car loans etc) and the valuation of the property (a maximum LVR - Loan to Value Ratio of 80% - 90%). The rush by First Home Buyers has caught a lot by surprise. Not the least of whom are the Valuers. We now have two sales by genuine buyers competing with others being threatened by valuers. Based on the feedback from the valuers, I suspect you will see a lot more before they 'get up to speed'. I'm not sure what extra evidence they need. The market has moved up in the last month for properties under $400k. No question. Like a lot of forensic reviewers, the valuers react AFTER the fact. Lets hope its not too late for First Home Buyers to benefit from no stamp duty.

Auction results: Sydney 54% with Melbourne 48%

As I write this, the Melbourne Cup has been run and won and the RBA has dropped official interest rates by 0.25%.

The retailers are doing it tough and Australians are hanging onto their money to pay out debt. Lets hope this move by the Reserve Bank will tempt some to spend for Christmas.

Quote for the week:

If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.- Thomas Alva Edison

Weekly Wrap up - First Home Buyers Rule...

We held 8 open houses on the weekend with 27 attendees. Lowest priced property via private treaty was $315,000 with the highest $565,000. We also have two auction properties going to the market on 6th October with price guides above $325,000 and $800,000 respectively. Most activity is in the first home owners arena with concerns about the removal of Stamp Duty concessions for First Home Buyers from 31st December fueling activity. In addition we had 1,638 unique visits to our properties on the web.
We sold 3 properties.
Auction clearance rate for Sydney was 59% with Melbourne 53%. This is marginally up on last weeks figure for Sydney (57%) and down for Melbourne (down from 57%)
The first home buyer trend is set to continue.
What do we make of this? Our sales team tell me buyers are still out there despite generally negative media about overseas issues. That tells me East Coast Aussies have money in their pocket and a cautiously optimistic view. Correct property pricing is paramount with buyers shunning properties overpriced by even a small amount.
If you are considering selling and your property is under $500,000, I would recommend you talk to us about listing your real estate now - to sell before these concessions are removed.