It’s hard to believe we’re already half way through February but it’s great to see that we’ve well and truly hit the ground running in 2020.

 

January figures are in and it’s started with a bang!  As a group we registered our strongest Written Value month since October 2014! And our second strongest Settled Value month since March 2018. 

 

I recently attended an Australian Property Industry breakfast, where the feedback from Industry experts including an Economist was one of cautious optimism. Perth now officially has the lowest median house price out of all the capital cities in the country, which suggests that our market is undervalued and we are in a prime position for growth. The experts advised that the major indicators for a market recovery are evident and all were anticipating a better real estate conditions for the year ahead.

 

We are starting to see the banks easing slightly on the lending conditions implemented last year off the back of the Royal Commission, interest rates remain at historic low levels, unemployment is steady and we are starting to see some positive movements in population growth. On top of this business confidence is growing and we have seen an increase in activity throughout the mining sector, particularly through new investment in equipment and machinery.

 

Although there is a long way to go, there was certainly an upbeat expectation that we are in for better times throughout this year and beyond, we have seen evidence of that already in our own January results.

 

REIWA stats have shown that listing numbers have reduced slightly and our own Harcourts figures reflect the same, even though some of this can be attributed to seasonal conditions, it could potentially be a sign that the market is changing. Now would be the optimal time to contact all those properties that came of the market in recent years because they were unable to sell. With increased buyer activity, timing could be right to bring them back to market.