A downturn, crash, rebound, U-shape, V-shape, recovery, recession, depression are only a few of the many headlines featuring on the media platforms in recent weeks. It appears that everyone is now an expert on the economy and property market.
Even the most respected economists are finding difficulty in forming a definite response in forecasting what the future landscape holds for the real estate industry.
In times like these, it can be dangerous to speculate, so we don’t! What we can do is interpret the data and activity that we are seeing on the ground, daily, in these markets.
The month of April surprised many, with dwelling values rising across the Perth property market. Inevitably sales volumes have dropped quite substantially, with the six-week hiatus on home opens. Additionally, this has progressed into a reduction in listing activity.
So what have we seen on the ground?
For the most part, those who aren’t in a position where they need to sell aren’t. And now with the government support packages, this has placed a vast majority of the population into this category. This has resulted in a significant shortage of online listings.
At least a third of the market has put a hold on or deferred taking their properties to market. Conversely, the data in April clearly suggests sales activity is still apparent. However, now being led in the off-market space.
As a business, typically, our off-market transactions account for 70-80% of our overall acquisitions. However, last month, 100% of our purchases occurred off-market. A majority of which was conducted in the Western Suburbs and inner-city pockets.
What we have seen is that vendors are reluctant to take their properties to the market in fear of being exposed to heavy discounting or increased days on the market. Although, these same vendors are proving to be very open to negotiating quietly behind closes doors, providing opportunities for home buyers that have been previously competing with the entire market.
We’ve got a large database of properties that are listed off-market in multiple price-points across a vast area covering the mid-to-top end of the Perth market.
Please get in touch with me if you’d like to find out more.
