For those who prefer to read, see transcription here…
Hey Guys Jarrad here from Investors Edge Real Estate. I wanted to give you my latest Perth Property update and it has been a bit of time since I last recorded one of these back on the 20th February, so the market has had some subtle changes and I am just going to take you through some of these both in the sales market and the rental market.
Sale Market Update
During February when I last came to you the market had just over 9000 properties for sale and during March the market has continued to tighten. We were at 8467 at the end of March and going into April, it tightened up some more and we actually got to our low point in the market at 7885 on the 10th of April which is according to RIEWA’s stats that we get.
That was a pretty critical week for us because the market started to increase in the number of properties for sale again and the last 3 weeks since then we have seen a gradual increase in the number of homes listed for sale go back up again. Now why do I think that is happening? I will go into that in a second.
The number of sales over this time has remained relatively flat at about 1000 per week and what we are actually seeing out in the market is strong price increases in that bracket between $400,000-$600,000 now that is the bracket that started to turnover really rapidly towards the end of last year and that turnover lead to an exceeding level of demand compared with supply and we have had the price increases coming through and we will probably see about a 10% price rise in the stats for the next quarter when they are released.
Now the bracket above that was sitting relatively flat and has started to turnover quite considerably since I recorded my last update in February. So what we are seeing is strong turnover in that $700,000-$900,000 price bracket and we are also seeing strong turnovers start in the sub $400,000 bracket.
So as properties are coming up they are selling quicker in these higher price suburbs and lower price suburbs. Neighbours that have been holding back on selling have been getting the idea to go to the market and I think that is what is leading to the extra supply that we have. The number of homes that are selling have remained quite steady but we are getting that extra supply from those that have wanted to sell and are now coming.
Tips For Buyers
From a buyers perspective it is getting really hard out there for them to find a house and go through the whole house hunting process. You have to go to the first home open if not try to get through the home before hand because you are now competing with 3-8 genuine buyers who are already to make an offer.
It is becoming pretty tuff out there and I am getting a lot of complains from buyers that are missing out on properties and it is taking a lot longer to find something because things are just selling that quick, so get your criteria sorted, know what you are after and get ready to act quickly when the right property comes up.
Tips For Sellers
From the sellers perspective, you may think that it is not as important to select the right agent now because truth be told, any agent can sell a property in this market. However when we have this level of competition from buyers, an expert agent can really make the most of that competition and the degree and the influence that we can have on that selling price is even greater now.
So using cutting edge marketing will get as much exposure on the property, leading to many more people along to home opens, creating a sense of competition, working that all up, playing buyers off against each other and negotiating the best price. We can actually have a much greater impact on the price in this market. I am actually having a lot of fun with it, so make sure more than ever, that you don’t cut corners in your sale cause you will be leaving money on the table.
Rental Market Update
On the rental side, since my last update the rental market medium rent price has gone up by $20 per week to $470. So we were seeing people offering more than we were asking and that is reflected in the stats. This year the market has remained at a vacancy rate of 2% but most noticeably over the last fortnight we have noticed things softening up a bit.
Nicole our Leasing Specialist isn’t getting as many tenants registering for home opens, there are less numbers looking and we are finding that it is taking a bit longer to find the right tenant, the market is just softening a little bit and that is reflected in this week’s vacancy rate changing from 2% to 2.4% now that is the first softening change in the vacancy rate we have seen in a very long time.
Changes to watch
So a couple of changes in key numbers both the sale market , I am going to be curious to see if that holds steady or whether the supply starts to increase again and a bit of a change in the rental market, we will have to watch that vacancy rate to see if that settles down again as well. I will come to you next month and hope that this has been of some help to you.
