NEW SOUTH WALES
SYDNEY AND REGIONAL NEW SOUTH WALES - LOCKDOWNS LEADING TO PROPERTY SHORTAGES BUT FAIL TO STEM DEMAND
The big change from last month in New South Wales is of course the lockdown in Greater Sydney . For property , this has created a dramatic drop in properties available . Listings in July slumped 41 per cent compared to June . They are now below the number of listings we saw in 2020 , although about the same as the 2019 level . More detailed data we have on auction listings show that people aren ’ t withdrawing from the market , but rather holding off on decision making .
Meanwhile , although listings have dropped , active bidders at auction have hit particularly high levels and the gap between highest prior offer and price sold at auction remains high . This level of competition is likely to mean that prices are maintained . And once lockdown stops , we will ideally see a surge of listings entering the market .
For property investors , the biggest challenge right now is buying property . Listings are down so there are fewer available . Although it ’ s still possible to inspect a property , limits are in place to restrict to just one person in the dwelling at a time . Auctions are still taking place but are online only . At this stage , there is still a lot of uncertainty as to when things will go back to normal .
Given that most investors tend to target properties priced under the median for that city and region , the following table details the best price growth suburbs in Sydney and regional New South Wales below the house price median . It ’ s important to note that historical price growth is no indicator of future conditions however there are some interesting trends that could be considered :
1 . Outer suburban and regional areas continue to see decent price growth conditions , consistent with people looking for more space , second homes and changes to the way that they work .
2 . Sydney CBD unit market has come back , despite challenges for commercial property in this part of Sydney . More broadly , CBD residential markets have been considered one of the more COVID-19 impacted markets however there does seem to be a recovery in pricing .
3 . Regional New South Wales is benefiting from great farming conditions ( e . g . Finley ), as well as lifestyle moves ( e . g . Culburra Beach and Kingscliff ).
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