What a real life sudden housing bust looks like after rate increases:
House sellers forced to drop their prices 15pc
Sydney Morning Herald -- By Hannah Edwards, Property Writer
-- May 9, 2004
House sellers are finding it now takes nine weeks to sell their homes privately - double the time at the height of Sydney's property boom.
Latest figures released to The Sun-Herald by property researchers Home Price Guide also show that desperate private sellers are being forced to slash their asking price by as much as 15 per cent to attract potential buyers.
With auction clearance rates falling below 40 per cent and auction volumes down by one-third, the figures show how far the Sydney real estate market has fallen since its peak in 2002-03.
"The private treaty market is no less affected than the auction market at this stage," Home Price Guide's head of research Louis Christopher said.
Mr Christopher said it took an average of 63 days to sell a property by private treaty, compared with 37 days in March 2002.
The amount Sydney house vendors are having to discount their prices has increased from 5 per cent in March last year to almost 7 per cent.
Those selling apartments in the inner south region - which includes Moore Park, Alexandria, Mascot and Redfern - have been forced to discount their initial advertised prices by 15 per cent, Home Price Guide says.
The situation is also dire in the Hills District, where house prices are typically discounted by 12 per cent.
The deteriorating private treaty market is being experienced by residents of Blackbutt Avenue, Pennant Hills, where five home owners have had varying degrees of difficulty trying to sell.
The asking prices for the large family homes were dropped by up to $80,000 over a few months and one vendor switched real-estate agents before taking the property to an unsuccessful auction.
Home Price Guide figures show the asking price for one house was set at $780,000 last November. After a series of price reductions, the owners took the property to auction in February, when it was passed in at $700,000. A new private treaty price of $719,000 was then set and the house sold in March for $699,000.
The owner, who did not want to be named, was pleased she sold her house finally but said the sale price was 10 per cent less than she wanted. |
