Location location autumn / winter edition

With the doom and gloom of the property market now well and truly behind us, stock remains a challenging issue while buyers take advantage of low interest rates and investors step back in to the residential property market.
The Perth residential rental market remains in the spotlight with our vacancy rate continuing to sit around 2%, and interest rates remain low in a highly competitive lending market.  Whilst some investors raise concerns over the impending changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, the fact remains that change is imminent and increases the need for professional management of your investment property.  Market conditions provide the perfect situation for property investors to return to the residential property market and benefit from long term growth and security.
Our sales market is looking positive, with listing stock down 39% compared to this time last year according to REIWA data.  Interestingly, sales activity is also up around 40% on the 12 month comparison from the same source.  This scenario will continue to impact on supply and demand, returning more competition from buyers to the market.
Although property values were down 7.4% over 19 months, values have since risen by 3.9%.  Another important factor to note in the market is property hold times have extended over the past decade, with average ownership now recorded at 8.2 years, compared to just 5.6 years recorded in 2002.  Increased property values and stamp duty costs have clearly impacted on this data.
If you’ve been holding off with your decision to sell (upgrade, down-size or simply move into another suburb that is more appealing) – now really is the best time!  It’s also a great opportunity for first home buyers as the gap between monthly rental prices and mortgage repayments is getting less and less.