The first half of 2018 has been relatively stable for the Eastern Suburbs, with a flatter market presenting good opportunities for both buyers and sellers. Find out more in our quarterly market report for investors in Sydney’s East.
With the first half of 2018 relatively stable for the Eastern Suburbs, it’s a good time to upgrade or upsize. Media reports have shown investors are back in the market in full force looking for opportunities. In doing so, they’re proving less deterred by changes to lending criteria and banking regulations than they were perhaps a year ago.
Despite this, the rental market has softened somewhat. As often happens at this time of year, when the winter chill started to bite we began seeing less demand from tenants across all sectors of the Eastern Suburbs rental market.
Buying In Today’s Eastern Suburbs Real Estate Market: Prices Stable
According to
CoreLogic, the overall Sydney auction clearance rate sat at 56.4% in the last week of June 2018, with houses doing marginally better than units. Corelogic also lists the Eastern Suburbs auction clearance rate is 56.9%. However, the Wentworth Courier has it well above this at almost 80%.
Despite this, the heat has well and truly gone from many parts of the market and buyers can now afford to take their time when negotiating a deal. Although vendors are still often seeing good results so long as they’re willing to be both patient and realistic and to meet the market where necessary.
Eastern Suburbs Sales: Breaking It Down By Numbers
- Eastern suburbs auction clearance rate: 79%-78% (Wentworth Courier 9/6-16/6), 59% - 62% (Southern Courier 9/6-16/6)
- Median Sydney property price as at 30 June 2018: -0.9% qtr ($870,554)
- Median Sydney unit price: -0.03% qtr ($752,625)
- Median Sydney house price: -1.2% qtr ($1,012,368)
Eastern Suburbs Rentals: Good Interest In Quality Rentals
Winter is seldom the best time of year for landlords and, true to form, we’ve seen demand for rental properties decrease over the last quarter. Properties have tended to stay on the market longer than in summer and autumn and vacancy rates are increasing. This also means that some landlords have had to moderate their expectations over rents.
We’re advising landlords to be realistic about the rent they can charge in order to secure a tenant. Having a flat occupied, even at a slightly reduced rent, is almost always better than having it unoccupied.
Despite this seasonal low demand, the Eastern Suburbs remains a blue chip area. According to data from realestate.com.au many suburbs continue to show rental demand that is well above the city average. For example, Kensington, Clovelly, Bronte and Bellevue Hill all experienced an increase in rental demand of 4.5 to 25 per cent over the past six months.
This is backed up by data from domain.com.au, which shows Surry Hills and Paddington ranked numbers two and three on the most searched suburbs for rentals, with Darlinghurst, Randwick, Redfern and Bondi also making the top 10.
Eastern Suburbs Rentals: Breaking It Down By Numbers
- Average days vacant (Taylors): 21 days
- Median Sydney rental price (units): $445 (week ending 28 June 2018)
- Median Sydney rental price (houses): $550 (week ending 28 June 2018)
- Vacancy Rate (real estate industry): 4%
- Vacancy Rate (Taylors): 0.95%
