September Monthly Market Update 2018
By | 13th Sep 18

What you need to know about the property market

Melbourne’s market has found its level and clearance rates are consistently now averaging around the 60% to 64% mark which is considered a fairly balanced market. This is giving buyers more opportunity to purchase at better prices with less competition. There are still some run away results such as the huge result for a villa unit in Balwyn North that sold for $ 475,000 over reserve.  Villa units are appealing to a large number of demographics including down sizers, with three downsizers fighting it out for this one.  In most other cases, we are seeing results of around $100,000 to $200,000 above reserve, so definitely not as many run away results being seen recently.

 

The finance landscape is changing and there will be even more changes from the fallout of the Royal Commission into banking findings. It is much more difficult to obtain loans now as banks require proof of spending and detailed documentation to prove where customers are spending their money before approving their loans. The banks are now raising rates independently of the RBA as the last RBA increase was about eight years ago and the banks raised them again recently. Westpac leading the way with 0.14% increase and only the NAB not following from the major banks.

 

The bad news for investors and landlords was that RentFair was approved through legislation, which will make some massive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. There are over 130 proposed changes to this legislation and some include removing the 120 day no reason Notice to Vacate, not being able to knock back pets and tenants being able to do basic modifications to properties. This will impact investors and it may result in some investors selling their properties which will cause more of an oversupply of properties in the marketplace. It will be even more important for owners to have highly skilled Property Managers, who understand the Act, looking after their investors.

 

Congratulations to the winners of our 13th Advantage Footy Tipping competition. The top three of our $500, $300, and $200 cash prizes respectively were in first place Anita Foster, Gary Penman in 2nd place and Frank Triantafyllou in 3rd place. We look forward to continuing the competition again next year for the 14th year running.