Bianca Denham Head of Performance and Recognition Ray White Group
WHY SELL NOW ?
In my last column I talked about how we typically see increased buying and selling activity in this ‘ term one ’ block . I wanted to circle back to the prediction , especially given the changes that we ’ ve seen in the past month . Mostly : sentiment and rhetoric around what inflation and interest rates might do . Late last year we were holding on to hope that the positive US inflation figures may flow through to some good news at home . However , with inflation figures rising quickly again in the US , what does that mean for us ? While there was some optimism in November and December from the big four banks about when rates might start to decline , predictions for that have now pushed out until late 2023 and possibly even into 2024 . How has that impacted ( or not ) the buying appetite ?
Encouragingly , we ’ re seeing inspection numbers sitting approximately 10 per cent above the same period last year , meaning more people are inspecting Ray White open homes . In fact , our inspection numbers are the highest they ’ ve been for the whole financial year to date . In tandem with that , we ’ re also seeing increased bidder activity at our auctions , with an average of 4.7 registered bidders and 2.8 active bidders at our auctions across Australia . That ’ s the highest average bidder activity since May 2021 .
While prices may have pulled back from their dizzying heights of late 2021 in some parts of the country , it seems buyers are telling us loud and clear that they still want to buy , and are attending our open homes and auctions with increasing appetite .
We ’ re also seeing our appraisal numbers lift , which is an early indication of new listings coming to market in the coming months . If you ’ re looking to buy , the best strategy is to be prepared when the perfect property comes along . This includes talking to your Loan Market broker early on to be ready to pounce , and if our appraisal data is anything to go by , your dream home may be just around the corner . Next month , I ’ ll talk about some buying and bidding tips to ensure you ’ re in the box seat when engaging in either an auction or private sale process .
31