Spring is traditionally a busy time of year for the property market.
Sellers start manicuring their lawns getting their homes ready for sale.
And prospective buyers start venturing out to open homes, happy to emerge from their winter hibernation.
So what’s in store for us this Spring?
Let’s look at the historical data first…
If we look at trends over the past decade, Corelogic shows that Spring listings across the country increase on average by 18.2% when compared to Winter. Which then translates to an average increase of 8.3% in Spring sales.
If we look specifically at Canberra data, Spring listings increase on average by 34.7%, with the average number of Spring sales also increasing (by 14.6%).
If you’re currently looking to buy, Spring can be a good time to start house hunting.
Not only because you’re likely to have more properties to choose from (if history repeats itself), but you’ll also have the added bonus of your purchase likely settling before the holiday season. Who wants a new home for Christmas!?
How are things looking for Spring 2024?
According to CoreLogic data (released 1 Aug), autumn and winter saw national real estate listings flow onto the market at an above average pace, meaning buyers could have an even bigger choice of homes to pick from this Spring.
Different conditions are playing out in different states, with demand for lower price points increasing across every capital city except for Darwin and Canberra. These cities are still deemed the most affordable capitals to buy, after adjustments are made for local incomes.
If you’re keen to buy property before the end of 2024, what should you be doing now?
The answer to this question largely depends on where exactly *you’re* looking to buy.
For example, the median selling time for a property in Perth is currently sitting at 10 days. If you’re looking for a competitive advantage as a buyer in WA, you need to be ready to act fast.
The market conditions in Melbourne however, are not so frenzied. New listings over the last 3 months have exceeded sales over the same period by more than 5,000l, which possibly indicates things are shifting to an oversupply.
Regardless of how quickly you might need to act, it always pays to have your finance sorted first.
Especially if your new purchase is going to be an investment purchase and you’ll need to restructure your existing loan as part of the process.
2 things you can do now to get ready to buy
1. Know what you can afford
There’s not much point in trawling the real estate sites if you don’t know what your maximum capacity is.
Talk to us first to get a clear idea of how much you can borrow.
That way you can filter your searches to ensure you’re only looking at properties that are within the budget.
2. Get your pre-approval in place
A pre-approval allows you to confidently place an offer or bid at auction with a clear limit for your highest bid. You can find more about pre-approvals here.
It also means that should your offer be accepted, things can move more quickly towards approval (and then settlement), because the majority of the lender’s assessment is done upfront before your pre-approval is issued.
If you’re keen to get ready for your own purchase, you better Spring to it! (sorry!)
You can get started here or give our team a call on 02 6286 6501.
Find the data here: https://www.corelogic.com.au/news-research/news/2024/whats-in-store-for-the-spring-selling-season
