No holiday for Sydney property
Another month filled with holiday anticipation didn’t stop the Sydney property market from doing its feverish thing. Those buying and selling were determined to do so.
The weekend before Easter saw media trumpeting a ‘Super Saturday’ of auctions. We were in the thick of it with 32 auctions in 48 hours, selling 30 of them. At the same time, people embraced ‘off-market’ buying/selling with a new enthusiasm. More than 10% of March sales at BresicWhitney happened on our off-market platform to pre-qualified buyers, without traditional advertising.
With 78 sales, our clearance rate remained at 84%, well above the wider Sydney figure of 74%.
A similar clearance rate for the year-to-date data demonstrates the momentum is still there. Landmark March sales also supported that strength at the top of the market. A penthouse in Stanley St, Darlinghurst sold for $5.555 million and a waterfront property in Vernon Street, Hunters Hill fetched $6.5 million – both under the hammer.
We saw a wider spread of sales this month. The inner city continues to perform, but there was plenty of action throughout the Inner West, and the Balmain and Hunters Hill Peninsulas.
March rentals maintained their early-year pace with properties leasing fast. Like the sales market, even top-end homes are generating interest with quality tenants on the hunt.
Value seems to be the defining factor for inspiring tenants to commit. Across the board, any property with an over-inflated price will be sluggish.