Anyone looking for a property in Sydney is urged to ‘buy now’ as purchasers desert the market to focus on buying Christmas gifts – leaving anxious sellers keen to drop prices.
However, the seasonal drop in buyers has also been compounded by the number of property sales falling recently.
Despite the slide in sales, the number of homes going under the hammer at auction has increased.
Australian Property Monitors (APM) an online property data service reckons property sales in Sydney fell from 59.2% to 54%, though in Melbourne, the drop was less – just 1% to 60%.
An APM spokesman said: “There’s no doubt that the top end of the property has gone to sleep over the past few weeks.
“There was a similar slowdown last year when the market ran out of steam towards the end of spring.”
Call for interest rate cuts
Sydney had 618 homes at auction this year, while in Melbourne had 927 lots for sale.
Some property experts are calling for an interest rate cut to help stimulate demand, though APM doubts that such a move will benefit the market.
“If there was going to be an interest rate cut then it should have been made in November because a cut will not have such an influence at this time of the year,” said the spokesman
But it’s not all bad news down under – at least not in New Zealand where property prices in Auckland have risen to record highs.
One estate agency has revealed that prices in the country’s largest city increased by more than £4,700 to hit a record of £326,000.
Auckland sales up
Peter Thompson, director of estate agents Barfoot and Thompson, revealed they had listed the highest number of properties for sale for five years in November.
Those properties cover all sectors and sales rose by 4% on the previous month – and a massive 25.7% over October last year. Increasingly houses worth more than NZ$1million (£519,000) are selling quickly and prices at the lower end of the market are holding their prices.
“In the past two months we have seen property prices in Auckland rise to a new high water mark, with prices rising across all property,” he said.
“Sales traditionally slow down at this time of year and prices do ease but for the prime summer trading months of February and March, average prices for property in Auckland will return to the low $600,000 (£312,000) mark.”
