In July, realestate.com.au conducted its Residential Audience Pulse survey.
It found that nationally more buyers across the nation (34%) thought it was not a great time to buy, compared to a year ago (29%).
Notably, however, in NSW the percentage of buyers who thought it was not a good time to buy remained stable, at a much lower 25%. We think they’re onto something.
The top considerations for surveyed buyers were property prices, demand, and interest rates. These are, understandably, genuine worries, but we can see many reasons that buyers who take a “wait and see” approach could be missing out, because there are some key benefits to getting into the market now – particularly here in Sydney’s east.
Less heat in the market
2024 has been a good property market. But in good news for buyers, there’s less competition, more properties on the market, and the market is nowhere near as hot as it was a few years ago in the midst of the pandemic property boom when buyers were driven by FOMO.
One indicator of this is the auction clearance rate. The eastern suburbs currently have an auction clearance rate of 70.3%. This is a healthy rate – and higher than the national clearance rate of 65%.But it is not as high as the 80-90% we were regularly getting a couple of years ago.
There are some excellent properties on the market
Spring selling season sees an uptick in the number of properties for sale, and there has been more stock to choose from lately than earlier in the year.
In fact, Corelogic reports that the number of property auctions has been at a yearly high this November. This correlates with an increased number of listings on the market, with one estimate revealing that the Eastern Suburbs has seen a 28.9% increase in the number of new listings on the market.
As we approach Christmas, we have a wide range of properties available, from deluxe one-bedroom apartments, to grand art deco penthouses, and historic six-bedroom terrace houses with designer renovations. It’s worth keeping an eye out for new listings too because we often soft-launch our 2025 properties at this time of year.
Timing your purchase
The perfect time to buy always depends on your personal circumstances. But if you have a family and want to be settled for the new school year, now is absolutely the time to buy.
In fact, you may actually have the edge, because as we approach Christmas, many buyers decide to focus on the festivities and holidays. That means they can take their eye off the market, leaving it wide open for those who have their finger on the pulse.
Some suburbs could be undervalued
As we argued earlier this year, we believe some pockets of the Eastern Suburbs could be undervalued. We picked houses in Bronte, and apartments in Bellevue Hill and Potts Point as having the potential for much more future growth than we’ve seen to date.
Long term capital growth has been strong
Over the past five years, houses in 101 suburbs across Australia have made their owners a million dollars, according to data from realestate.com.au. No fewer than 86 of them were here in Sydney, and the eastern suburbs led the way with Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse, North Bondi and Bronte taking out the top four spots. Dover Heights, Rose Bay, Bondi Beach, Clovelly, Queens Park, South Coogee, Woollahra, Kensington, Bondi, Coogee, Maroubra and Paddington also made well over a million dollars for their owners in just five years.
And prices are still rising
Despite the news headlines telling us prices have stabilised this year, that does not reflect the nuances of the market and the buoyancy and competition we’ve seen here in Sydney’s east.
According to realestate.com.au, over the last 12 months house prices in Bondi Beach have risen 13.2% and apartments 10.2%. Apartments in Elizabeth Bay have increased 12.9%, while in Rushcutters Bay they’ve risen 6.7%, and houses in Darlinghurst are up 11.3%.
Borrowing power and interest rates remains steady
Many buyers have been worried about how much they’ll be able to borrow or whether interest rate rises will mean they can no longer afford to buy what they want.
That’s no surprise given the rate of change of the past few years saw interest rates go from historic lows of around 2% in 2021, to variable interest rates of more than 6.5%.
While Economists had forecast interest rate cuts they have not yet happened. However, the last interest rate rises were a whole year ago – in November 2023. This means that interest rates have remained steady, allowing buyers more confidence and time to get their finances prepared and ready to make a decision to buy.
A fresh property boom could be on the horizon
SQM Research just released their Housing Boom and Bust Report 2025, which draws on economic outcomes to predict property market movements for the year to come.
It speculates that if the RBA decides on a long-awaited rate cut in the March quarter (which has been forecast by several economists), we could see national price growth of up to 10%, and 7% in Sydney over 2025. So if you get in now, you not only lock in future capital gains, you will be buying for a cheaper price.
Want more?
If you’d like to know more about buying or selling in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, get in touch.
