As usual, it is only form the international press that we can get a decent take on what’s happening at home, via Bloomberg:
Chris Carr, a real estate agent in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs, has had to convince sellers to drop prices on at least six homes in the past two months to complete transactions.
Such price cuts sent Sydney home prices 1.4 per cent lower in November, the most in five years, as Chinese demand slows, banks raise mortgage rates and buyers balk at record home prices. The first open inspection of a home now attracts on average about six groups of prospective buyers, compared with as many as 30 three months earlier, Carr, an agent with Gilmour & Orley, said in an interview.
“Sellers have had to accept up to 10 per cent price reductions,” said Carr, who sells homes in the Hills District about 30 kilometres from the CBD. “There is a lack of international buyers, particularly those with a Chinese background now, who were behind the price rise. Local demand is still there, but they are price-conscious.”
…”I expect prices to fall 5 per cent to 10 per cent next year assuming we don’t have an interest rate cut,” said Martin North, a principal at Digital Finance Analytics, which has partnered with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to produce mortgage reports for more than 10 years. “Salary growth is subdued and is just not enough to support the housing momentum.
Precisely.
