Worried about the Melbourne property market?
Many property buyers, investors and home buyers are worried about the Melbourne property market right now. Why?
- Negative sentiment from the press.
- Difficulty securing finance.
- Boom and bust mentality
- Not all property is good property.
However, as professional buyers agents we argue two points in any market conditions:
- What you buy
- and how much you pay will determine how successful your property purchase is over time.
So should you be afraid to commit to the Melbourne property market at the moment? I say NO. Its a great time to buy if you are strategic, super picky and know exactly what you are doing.
Personally, I am in the market currently and if you have capital or can source funding I think it’s a great time to buy for everyone. However, I can understand why some property buyers are worried. Here’s an example!
Bad property – there is a 2 bedroom apartment in Thornbury at the moment for sale. Our industry only database tells me:
“First Listed 11/04/18: $500,000 – $550,000;
Last Listed 12/07/18: $530,000 – $560,000
106 days on market.”
Why? Is it the market? Could it be it the price? Is it the property? We did our research and the property has huge negatives and is not close to train or tram transport. The current owner paid $429,00 for this asset in 2013.
Why why why?
Good property – this is an unusual story. A two bedroom apartment in North Fitzroy sold off market for $730,000, subject to finance. The bank valued the home at $680,000 and so the purchaser withdrew from the purchase. Knowing that it was a good property, unique, with views of the Merri Creek, the owner was confident to sent the property to auction.
Big crowd on the day, 4 or 5 bidders and 2 fought it out. Quote range for the auction was $650,000 to $700,000, auctioneer declared the property on the market at $710,000 but it sold for $785,000. So, that’s my point regarding buying the right sort of property.
Good property attracts buyers and always sell well, despite jittery market conditions. Our industry database tells me the Vendor paid $52,000 for the apartment in 1986 and it was Listed on 28/06/18: $650,000 – $700,000 23 days on market.
After nearly 30 years in real estate, knowing the Melbourne property market as well as I do, its still very difficult work to find the right properties to buy. So many properties don’t measure up to our strict asset selection criteria or fail our pre-purchase research tests.
Melbourne’s property market isn’t as doomed as you may thing…
Today, I have spent over 3 hours qualifying properties in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, including Clifton Hill, Fitzroy, Northcote, Thornbury, and guess what? I found on 5 properties to inspect this coming weekend. There are hundreds in our price point on the market, but the vast majority don’t meet our property criteria.
So, should you be worried about the Melbourne property market right now? I guess the answer is “no” if you are experienced and knowledgeable. The answer is “yes” if you are not.
At Buyer Solutions, we specialise in properties that have are most likely to reward property owners with capital growth. That means they will go up in value.
There are sectors of property that we advise you to avoid. Melbourne has multiple markets and types of property and sales methodologies. It’s property markets where you need friends, accurate reliable advice and data and you surely need to be selective.
Here are a few tips if you are buying now in Melbourne.
The banks are being mean at the moment. You may not easily get a loan to renovate your future home or investment. Don’t assume getting funding will be easy. If you can’t get an extra loan to renovate later, you may wish to buy renovated now.
Never buy prior to having your loan approved at the moment.
Make sure your loan approval hasn’t lapsed when you sign a contract of sale.
Take what the media says with a grain of salt. The purpose of these articles is fear mongering. Take an objective view to what the media says. If an article says that the market is going down, don’t you think that it’s an opportune time to buy the right property?
Plan for the next 10 years. Take a longer-term view to why you are buying the property and what you want it to do for you over time.
Getting advice from the right Buyers Agent could be the key to losing all worries about buying real estate now.
Email me for a referral to a great Buyers Agent in your state and area. If in Melbourne, give us a call on +61 3 9816 8555 or contact us here.
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+61 39816 8555