Staff Writer – 12 April 2017
The media are a delightful bunch. many of us rely on the media to give us our daily dose of information. Whether it be the weather, financial data, terrible things happening in other parts of the world, they deliver it all to us via multiple devices and multiple mediums.
When it comes to housing, as I have mentioned often in this offering, the idea of property is almost a national sport in Australia.
And it is on that basis that many things go on quietly in the background changing the landscape for our property decisions. Sometimes we find out promptly, sometimes we find out loudly, and sometimes we only find out when we delve into the transactional side of buying and selling with the equivalent of a thud!
The ‘Banks’ are forever changing the rules quietly. Most recently raising interest rates with little or no fanfare. On the contrary when we see a rate reduction, it is gladly announced from the hilltops.
So with that as one example in mind there are 3 things that I believe you should be aware of prior to your foray into property.
1. Finance. What it is today may not be the same next week. Many buyers have come to us with a Bank Pre Approval only to find that once they enter into a contract, that the approval as it were still needs to ratified with the plethora of credit checks and the like and really was nothing more than a quick check of your capacity and nought all else. A lot of banks and brokers will issue you with a form stating that you have a pre-approval merely to take you off the market. Always ask for a full financial pre-approval only subject to a valuation.
2. Market Forces. These are not one thing but a multitude of things. As we go about our daily lives, there are people and organisations writing and rewriting policies because of something that has happened, they think will happen or they fear will happen. Governments, government sanctioned and run organisations that act as the police on the industry are constantly changing the landscape. Sometimes this is for the greater good, sometimes not so.
3. Supply and Demand. This is a key factor in price pressure both upwards and down. There will always be reasons to buy and reasons not to buy. There wouldn’t be many people in the world that think property is a bad risk. A friend of mine has been looking for a house for his family for over 12 months. When he started looking there was plenty of property for sale. 12 months on and the market has changed. There is less stock available simply by virtue of low interest rates, no reason or pressure for people to sell, and as such this has placed upward pressure on prices. The homes he was looking at a year ago are now more expensive, his affordability hasn’t changed and as such he is now looking at a lesser property because his available funds will only
go so far. And to compound the issue lending policies have tightened impacting further and eroding borrowing capacity.
In the end, being fully prepared with your finance, in full knowledge of the market you want to buy into and realising when you find the right property that it is time to act, are all key ingredients.
The team at Ray White Bridgeman Downs and The Sonya Treloar Team are there to help both the buyer and the seller achieve their property goals. We can tell you what stage the market is at and what is your best course of action. Worth a call.