The word unprecedented was thrown around with reckless abandon in 2020 but when it comes to the east coast property market so far this year, it’s the most apt descriptor.
Across January 2021, The Agency’s east coast operation experienced a 94 per cent uplift in listings and the network overall achieved an 80 per cent increase in sales turnover compared to the same time last year.
Even more remarkably, the increased east coast sales activity was not contained to a particular area or region, with key agents in regional and metropolitan areas registering previously unseen market demand for the January period.
NSW Central Coast specialist Brian Whiteman turned over $21 million worth of property across 20 sales and broke three suburb records in the process.
Agent Brad Gillespie, who operates in Sydney’s inner city, sold 10 properties in January and achieved more than $12 million worth of sales, with an average of 70 attendees per open home, and Ben Collier sold $46.55 million worth of property across five sales in the luxury eastern suburbs market.
The Agency’s CEO Matt Lahood praised his team and said he had not witnessed this level of activity in a January market in his 30-year career.
He said there were several reasons for the strong start to the year, including considerable pent-up buyer and vendor activity from 2020.
“Many people placed their property goals on hold,” Mr Lahood said.
“Additionally, with no overseas travel and interstate travel restricted, many people have remained home and focused on their lifestyle choices.
“Our agents identified the shift in market conditions and worked closely with their clients to take advantage of these unprecedented January sales opportunities.”
Regional areas such as the Central Coast traditionally perform well during holiday periods but Mr Whiteman said demand was so high last month that he and his team had been averaging four to five listing presentations a day and are selling a property almost daily.
“We are continuing to see an extraordinary influx of people migrating to the Central Coast from Sydney and other areas,” Mr Whiteman said.
“At least 78 per cent of all sales are to people who live out of the area and we have witnessed about a 10 per cent increase in prices.”
He said the trend towards working from home had played a large role in the market shift, as had the completion of the NorthConnex tunnel, which had changed people’s perception of the drive and reduced the commute time to just over an hour without congestion.
Meanwhile, Mr Whiteman and his team have broken three suburb sale records, with a house at 38 Lake Street, North Avoca selling for $3.1 million, which was $700,000 above the previous suburb record; 31C Trelawney Street, Killarney Vale, attaining a price of $1.785 million at $350,000 above the previous record; and 16 Carol Anne Close, Tumbi Umbi fetching $1.175 million, breaking Mr Whiteman’s own previous record by $25,000.
The apartment market experienced a decline in 2020, but in January 2021, the trend has started to shift.
Mr Gillespie and his team focus on the inner-city areas of Alexandria, Zetland, Waterloo, Redfern, Erskineville and Beaconsfield, and he said demand had skyrocketed for both apartments and homes.
“I have honestly never seen anything like it, we are averaging about 70 people at each open home, there are queues down the street. This market activity is great for sellers,” Mr Gillespie said.
“Normally we would start campaigns after Australia Day, this year we started campaigns on January 9, a whole month early.
“Ultimately I made the decision to take advantage of the market conditions for my clients.
“The market ended so strongly last year I knew this would roll into 2021 and I saw an opportunity to take advantage of the lower stock levels in January.
“10This decision paid off, prices are back up to the peak levels of 2017 with the record-low interest rates contributing to this rise in prices.”
Across his ten January sales, Mr Gillespie said he met with close to 1500 buyers, released 113 contracts and fielded more than 1500 web inquiries.
The restriction of interstate and international travel has had a huge impact on the eastern suburbs property market within Sydney.
Mr Collier said he had seen an increase in demand across the board, and while the expatriate demand is still present, it pales in comparison to the local demand for property.
“The property demand we are seeing in the eastern suburbs of Sydney is predominantly from owner-occupiers. The local demand has been enormous,” he said.
“For a market that is traditionally quiet over the holidays it has remained extremely strong due to the fact people have remained local.”
