The Secret is Out, You Can Benefit From the SPRING Property Market Now, Here’s How…
What happens to the property market in Winter?
The Victorian market often experiences a sharp decline in stock levels during winter. Prospective vendors tend to hold their properties back from the market waiting for the warm weather and the flowers to sprout in Spring. A Spring campaign also dovetails nicely with the end of year and being settled for the forthcoming New Year. This collective mindset often brings excess stock levels to the market in Spring whilst leaving the market undersupplied during Winter. With the current market starting to soften ever so slightly, prospective vendors will need to weigh up the selling season vs market conditions. This is not to suggest market conditions will decline steeply during Spring. But there are no guarantees in life and some vendors will undoubtedly be tempted by selling in the back end of one of biggest property booms since the Global Financial Crisis in 1989.
What’s the key Question to ask when deciding when to sell?
The key question in determining when to list your property should be, ‘when will it sell better (for the best price)? Whereas many sellers ask themselves ‘when will the property present at its best?’ in the assumption a better presentation means a better price. In 2021 the market enjoyed a strong rally during Winter after the COVID-19 lock-down in Autumn. At that stage, many felt the Winter rally was a potential false dawn and prices wouldn’t hold. The market appeared to hold through Spring with stock levels holding steady. Buyer demand was still high. In Geelong the median price change was positive 6.15% across the year, with a national average of 4.3%.*
During the first quarter of 2022 we are seeing signs of the market regaining some balance. Buyer enquiry has dropped ever so slightly, average days on market is slowly increasing, but still not back to pre-pandemic rates, and sellers seem to be becoming nervous about what lies ahead. The uncertain times globally, chatters of an interest rate rise along with Australia opening borders again all playing their part in the market regaining some balance.
How to benefit from the forthcoming Spring market in Autumn or Winter?
A lot of sellers also prefer selling in Spring because they will trade their existing home for a new one which is easier to do when stock levels are higher. One alternate solution to ‘buy and sell in Spring’ is to ‘sell in Autumn/Winter and buy in Spring’. The way to structure such a move is to insert a delayed settlement clause into the contract of your Winter sale. This will allow you to sell in Winter when stock is tight and buy in Spring when stock levels rise. Just as Winter can be a surprisingly good time to sell, so too can the early Summer, between late November and Christmas. There is a mistaken belief the market ‘shuts down’ in the run up to Christmas. Nothing could be further from the truth though, as transaction numbers often soar in December.
* www.propertyvalue.com.au
Kardinia Property is a family-based real estate business located in the Newtown end of Pakington Street, Geelong.
