And we’re away. The first auction of the year was a wild show. At 406 Bourke Street Surry Hills, a crowd watched 4 bidders actively compete to secure the wide 4-bedroom home. It sold for $1.82 million.

But don’t get it twisted – it’s a quieter market.

You can feel that dynamic on the street, even though our overall sales volumes remain unchanged. In fact, we sold a touch more property this December/January than we did the year before.

Then:

Dec 2017 – 41 sales
Jan 2018 – 13 sales

Now:

Dec 2018 – 47 sales
Jan 2019 – 18 sales

So expect increased activity throughout Sydney as buyers and sellers start to make early moves for 2019. But let’s keep those expectations in check, because this means more supply.

The big news of the week has been everyone reporting on the Hayne Royal Commission findings. And we can expect that to fuel our election chatter for months to come.

One side product is that people have become more familiar with the upheaval of credit and banking regulations. Those in the market now comprehend the connection between buyers not being able to borrow as much, and how that flows through to prices paid.

It puts more buyers and sellers in the same headspace. Sometimes.

In the property management world we had an uplift of inquiry throughout January in comparison to December. The average time to lease a property is around 20 days and we’re seeing more than 3 groups through each inspection.

Properties were leasing faster. But that was also a result of renters and homeowners being on the same page regarding price.

There is still plenty to choose from in the apartment space. But terraces and freestanding houses are experiencing a period of less competition and stronger demand.