Sydney - price growth stalled for now
Sydney ’ s price growth began to stall even before interest rates started to rise in May . By the start of 2022 , it became apparent that interest rates would start to move sooner rather than later . Almost immediately price growth began to stall . The median price for Sydney houses peaked at $ 1.4 million in December 2021 after increasing by 51 per cent through the pandemic .
Despite talk of prices now crashing , the reality is far different and for most people , it ’ s a relief that the red hot market has cooled . If prices had kept moving at the same rate they did during the pandemic , Sydney ’ s median would have hit more than $ 2.2 million by the end of 2023 . This would not only be problematic for first home buyers but for affordability at all levels , as well as levels of household debt .
Sydney ’ s median is now sitting at $ 1.31 million , declining by 6.7 per cent since December . It ’ s now slightly above where it was in September last year . The price decline isn ’ t as severe as you might expect given how far prices pushed up during the pandemic , and how quickly interest rates are now rising . Furthermore , the number of suburbs currently recording a decline is particularly small . Just 1.2 percent of suburbs have seen price declines over the past 12 months with the majority of these declines occurring in very expensive suburbs ( median prices over $ 3 million ) or far more affordable options ( less than $ 1 million ).
On the ground , we ’ ve seen a definite cooling of the market but little signs of distress . The number of listing authorities signed by Ray White agents in July was on par with previous years . Average active bidders however has dropped significantly , currently sitting at 2.2 . No one is rushing to get out of the market , but for those that are selling , there is less competition for properties which is flowing through to flatter price growth . With interest rates expected to continue to rise for the remainder of the year , it ’ s looking like a much slower property market compared to what we ’ ve become accustomed to over the past two years .
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