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(22-09-2015, 07:13 PM)greengiraffe Wrote: (21-09-2015, 09:41 PM)greengiraffe Wrote: time is ripe for correction...
make no mistake it is not a crash... Wah if only buy lotteries oso so accurate...
- Sep 22 2015 at 6:40 PM
- Updated 1 hr ago
Sydney, Melbourne flip to 'buyer's market' not a bloodbath
NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/j/q/e/r/m/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjs7l6.png/1442913645015.jpg[/img]Whether there will be a "bloodbath" this Super Saturday, it will depend on the suburb. Cole Bennetts
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by Su-Lin Tan
Falling auction clearance rates may be spooking the Sydney and Melbourne markets as the first big spring Saturday approaches but experts say buyers and sellers should "take things into perspective".
Leading valuer Herron Todd White said while rates are falling there are also more properties on the market this year compared to last year. Suburbs, which do not usually go to auction, have had lower clearance rates and could be skewing the overall city clearance.
"Places in southwest Sydney, Canterbury, Bankstown have record numbers going to auction this time compared to last year. In Blacktown and Bankstown there are many people looking to capitalise on the supply and demand issue," Herron Todd White's Sydney residential director Kim Quick said.
Sydney's western suburbs of Lidcome, Blacktown and Revesby recorded some of the lowest clearance rates last week below 60 per cent. Smithfield was at 50 per cent, Hurstville at 46 per cent and Greystanes at 30 per cent.
Castle Hill and Baulkham Hills were around the 60 per cent mark.
Ms Quick said the cost of auctions normally deter sellers in these areas, but they are jumping on the auction bandwagon this time around.
"We also see a lot of activity in the Hills which has the combination of the Northwest rail link and the sale of amalgamated blocks on the back of rising land value," she said.
"Vendor expectations are becoming unrealisitic … some people are getting mixed up with old and new … there are properties [that] will go to auction when 12 months ago they [would]never get to an auction."
Domain Group's senior economist also agreed some of the lower clearance suburbs could be skewing the overall clearance rate but said he has seen softening even in the top suburbs.
"The consistency of the lower clearance rates is hard to ignore," he said.
"It's a coincidence that we are seeing lower investor numbers but all the suburbs are recording lower clearance rates. In May we were touching 90 per cent. Now a low 80 is a top performer."
There are also more properties being sold this spring versus last year.
About 1000 properties are due to go on the market this weekend.
Expected September auction listings in Sydney are higher at 4858 and Melbourne at 4933 compared to last year's 3223 and 3262 respectively, according to Corelogic RP Data.
Whether there will be a "bloodbath" this Super Saturday, will depend on the suburb.
"It will be very location specific. Properties in areas where buyers and sellers are both educated and who know the competition are will be fine," Ms Quick said.
"It also depends how many units do go up in one suburb. Overall, we are not seeing any slowdown in mortgages when we do our valuations."
Dr Wilson said 70 to 80 per cent are still good rates for spring.
"It is when you get to below 70 per cent then it's really a buyer's market." Healthy slowdown lah not a collapse that what many doomist are portraying...
Hot property: Going, but heat not quite gone from home market
Greg Brown
[Image: greg_brown.png]
Property Reporter
Sydney
[Image: 323797-fbbf8dbc-6fcb-11e5-8cb9-949f91ef4ac5.jpg]
Auctioneer Phillip Kingston from Gary Peer Realestate, works the crowd in Caulfield.Source: News Corp Australia
[b]Strength in the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets held up at the weekend despite expectations of another downturn, with more than 1700 homes sold at auction[/b]
Sydney had an October record of 1141 auctions last week, with clearance rates of 72.8 per cent, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
Melbourne had 1358 auctions, 74 per cent finding a buyer.
Both cities — the only mature auction markets in Australia — were busy for this time of year, but analysts say the trend is still towards a slower market. “This is not a market that is collapsing, this is a market that is steadying and probably steadying a bit in terms of price growth,” Robert Mellor, managing director of forecaster BIS Shrapnel, said. “Demand is holding up at a healthy level, but its not as spectacular as it was.”
It comes as the big banks, and even some offshore banks, substantially tighten lending to property investors in a move expected to slow the blistering pace of house price growth in Australia’s two biggest cities.
Melbourne auctioneer Phillip Kingston of Gary Peer Real Estate yesterday worked the crowd in Melbourne’s Caulfield, the south-eastern property going unsold.
Agency owner Gary Peer said it was the only property of four auctioned by his company yesterday that did not sell. “It’s not as frenetic as it was a month or two ago, but it’s still very strong,” Mr Peer said. “I think that the prices have stopped going up. I think that its settled down.”
While Sydney registered its highest ever October weekend, Melbourne produced a record for this time of the year.
At the same time last year, Sydney held 918 auctions at a clearance rate of 71.9 per cent while 70 per cent of the 1123 auctions were cleared in Melbourne.
Australian Property Monitors senior economist Andrew Wilson said the results were better than expected, but added it may be a sign vendors were willing to sell at a lower premium than earlier in the year. “If ever the market was going to shift backwards then it would have last week with these record numbers. It certainly did hold the line, whether that’s sellers becoming more realistic about taking offers, that could be part of the energy,” Dr Wilson said.
A two-tier market was emerging in Sydney, with demand low in the affordable western suburbs and hot in inner-city areas.
“The inner-city higher-price regions are doing markedly better than the outer western suburbs of Sydney, where clearance rates are really struggling to get above 50 per cent,” Dr Wilson said.
“It is now a buyers market in those areas.”
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Harry Triguboff to retain 1000 new units in Sydney projects
Turi Condon
[Image: turi_condon.png]
Property Editor
Sydney
[Image: 362338-6a802c32-7145-11e5-8a80-5a407624b6b3.jpg]
Harry Triguboff inspects models of his Altitude project in Parramatta. <span class="creditattribution">Picture: Phillip Rogers.</span> Source: News Corp Australia
[b]Billionaire developer Harry Triguboff will keep nearly 1000 apartments worth close to $1.2 billion bolstering his position as one of the country’s largest residential landlords.[/b]
Rather than sell the two $700 million towers under construction at Chatswood and five buildings at Lane Cove with a value of $475m, Mr Triguboff told The Australian he would hold on to the apartments.
“I have never kept anything in Chatswood, even though I have built there ... so I thought it was time that I kept some,” Mr Triguboff said.
“At present we have 6000 apartments that we rent and we expect to increase this by 3000 apartments within the next 15 months, which will make our portfolio 9000 apartments.”
While price growth has slowed, Mr Triguboff rejected concerns that a sharp correction was on the horizon, saying Meriton’s sales volumes were strong.
“There will be no bubble in the foreseeable future. We expect to increase our sales by 30 per cent this year,” he said.
Earlier this month, Mr Triguboff told The Australian he put an additional 600 of his “older” units on the market, acknowledging concerns that tighter lending conditions for domestic investors and Chinese government controls on offshore fund flows may dint the still buoyant market.
Earlier this week, three investment banking heavyweights warned of uncertain times ahead for the housing sector, with Macquarie analysts forecasting a fall in dwelling prices from the start of next year before they start recovering in mid-2017.
Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs also put out investor notes on Tuesday about cooling residential markets.
Mr Triguboff, however, said an apartment oversupply was unlikely to eventuate. “Many blocks are not starting because the banks will not give finance,” he said.
He flagged that Meriton would begin to look for distressed sites but said the group already had a substantial pipeline.
The PTWArchitects-designed Centrium in Chatswood will have 337 serviced apartments opening this month, while the 271-unit residential tower will be completed in January.
There is also retail space and a childminding centre.
The Lane Cove project, Arise, will have 363 units and a childcare centre.
Other projects under construction — 373 residential apartments and 291 serviced apartments in the Altitude site at Parramatta in Sydney’s west — will be sold, as will 343 units and 208 serviced, apartments at Southport on the Gold Coast.
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Dyldam Developments chasing Harry Triguboff’s Meriton record
Samantha Hutchinson
[Image: sam_hutchinson.png]
Property Writer
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Joe Khattar of Dyldam Developments at his office in Parramatta in western Sydney. Source: News Limited
[b]Private developer Dyldam has a grand ambition to grow to a size that rivals Sydney’s most prolific developer, Meriton.[/b]
Executives at the group even had a chance at a recent awards ceremony to let Meriton’s chief executive, Harry Triguboff, in on the lofty goal.
“We went up to Mr Triguboff and told him, ‘We’re coming up right behind you ... ’,” one development manager said, describing a lighthearted exchange.
“We told him how much we respected what he had done, and told him that we were inspired to do the same thing.”
The Sydney-based development group founded in 1969 by Naim Khattar and Joseph Khattar now has more than 15,000 apartments in its development pipeline after a 12-month acquisitive streak that has seen it spend more than $500 million on sites.
“Demand is still strong as shown by recent sales figures (and) we have not reached the top of the cycle,” said managing director Sam Fayad.
“Prices will keep rising, but at a steadier rate (but) not at the rate of the past 12 months.”
The group now plans to spend another $500m in the next 12 months in locations expected to profit from new infrastructure links, including at Parramatta, St Leonards and Homebush.
The group is currently circling a development site across multiple blocks in Sydney’s St Leonards that it is expected to secure in an off-market deal after months of negotiations.
Other sites under consideration are in the Hills district, where the group has spent more than $50m on the former Bull and Bush Hotel, which is now slated to become more than 300 apartments in a project called Hills Park.
Earlier this year, the group won the backing of a major Chinese investment house, Beijing Capital Land, to act as a passive investor on a number of key apartment projects, including a 1041-unit development in Sydney’s Carlingford and Hills Park on the Bull and Bush site.
The alliance is understood to be one of two partnerships that are fuelling the group’s continued acquisitive streak.
“Beijing Capital Land is a financier whose business model suits the dynamics of Dyldam’s own — it is a passive association in which their role is solely that of financier,” a Dyldam spokesman said.
“In turn, Dyldam offers trust, longevity and stability as a leading development and construction company.”
Other developments include a 14.3ha parcel on Parramatta’s Auto-Alley precinct bought in August for $150m and a former Rositano Furniture factory in Merrylands bought for more than $50m.
“Areas that have new infrastructure, rail, transport, schools, universities and hospitals (appeal to us),” Mr Fayad said, noting that more than 90 per cent of the group’s holdings are purchased in off-market deals.
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Sydney off-the-plan buyer discovers finished apartment is a bedroom short
Oct 14, 2015
Sue Williams
http://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-off...14-gk902m/
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Developer at heart of ‘sunset clawback’ storm has only $83 in his company’s bank account
Oct 17, 2015
Sue Williams
http://www.domain.com.au/news/developer-...17-gkbhko/
____________________________________________________
Research, research and research - Please do your own due diligence (DYODD) before you invest - Any reliance on my analysis is SOLELY at your own risk.
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Western Sydney leading the housing decline
NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/k/e/1/l/x/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gkdgr4.png/1445327283026.jpg[/img]Can't sell: 40 Strickland Road in Guildford had to be revised from $1m to $899,000.
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by Su-Lin Tan
Western Sydney is the first to crack under the looming pressure of a slowing housing market in Sydney.
Property agents said there were signs the property boom was over in suburbs like Merrylands and Guildford – poorly attended open houses, falling inquiries and strong buyer caution.
Starr Partners Merrylands' Ramin Rahimi said buyers are concerned about the market crashing.
"We can feel it. We can feel the number of buyers and inquiries falling," he said.
"We used to get 100-130 inquiries a day, now we are getting 40-50."
Mr Rahimi said open house inspections have also fallen by 60 per cent but listings have increased. "On average, we used to have about 18-20 people attending open homes seven or eight months ago, but now we're finding an average of about seven people attending. Most buyers are confused about the market and holding off."
"Even buyers themselves are telling us that things are cooling! Everytime the media says the market has cooled, people delay."
Mr Rahimi warned the "bubble" had already burst and sellers are panicking. This started about two months ago.
"Owners think they need to move now so they drop the price and it keeps rolling on."
An average two-bedroom in Merrylands now costs between $460,000 to $480,000. Two months ago, they were about $480,000 to $500,000, Mr Rahimi said.
A three-bedroom is about $750,000, down from about $850,000.
He has clients who have sold their homes to cash in on the market and are renting in the interim to buy their houses back at a cheaper price.
"We are worried," LJ Hooker Merrylands' Peter Tannous said.
"Many of our buyers have borrowed to the hilt up to 90 to 95 per cent of the property. We are concerned that history will repeat. It's bad."
PRESSURE ON SELLERS
Mr Tannous' five-bedroom listing at 40 Strickland Road in Guildford has been on the market for six weeks. Two months ago he would have sold it in a day.
Its asking price of $1 million has been revised to $899,000.
"The seller had a chance to pick it up for $960,000 two weeks ago," he said.
"But she was optimistic and wanted $1 million. Over the weekend she lost $60,000, after the paper said the market had dropped."
Mr Tannous said the west has always been more vulnerable with many borrowing a lot against their lower incomes.
"It's a western Sydney thing," Mr Tannous said.
"If the banks move, a lot of borrowers will be hurt."
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Sydney ranks high in housing bubble risk
Daniel Palmer
[Image: daniel_palmer.png]
North American correspondent
New York
[Image: 680856-fe2551f8-7e77-11e5-970a-9231c6de7a20.jpg]
The UBS report warns of the danger of a major price correction. Source: News Limited
[b]The world’s most at-risk cities for a housing bubble are Hong Kong and London, but Sydney is not far behind, a new report has suggested.[/b]
The UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index found property prices in many major cities have more than doubled since 1998 in real terms, with prices now largely higher than they were prior to the global financial crisis.
It leaves house prices in most major cities in the “overvalued” range, according to UBS, while the “risk of a residential property bubble is most distinct in London and Hong Kong”.
Next in line is Sydney, which has logged a sharp run up in prices over the past 12-18 months, with the city’s property market labelled as “significantly overvalued” ahead of markets in Vancouver, San Francisco and Amsterdam.
Sydney recorded a score of 1.38, behind only Hong Kong and London, which topped the 1.5 “bubble” mark.
Ominously, the report noted that whenever the index topped 1.0 a “real price correction of, on average, 30 per cent began within three years 95 per cent of the time,” with investors urged not to expect “real price appreciation in the medium to long run.”
The index focuses on 15 of the world’s leading financial centres, with Paris, Tokyo and New York among the cities with fairer valuations than Sydney. No other Australian cities were analysed.
“A mix of optimistic expectations, favourable economic fundamentals and capital inflows from abroad has caused valuations to soar in certain cities in recent years. Loose monetary policy has prevented a normalisation of housing markets and encouraged local bubble risks to grow,” Claudio Saputelli, Head Global Real Estate in UBS Chief Investment Office Wealth Management, said.
While Sydney prices are overvalued, there are several leading financial centres that have more worrying price-to-income metrics based on house or apartment size.
“House prices have decoupled most from local incomes in Hong Kong, London, Paris, Singapore, New York and Tokyo, where buying a 60-square-metre apartment exceeds the budget of most people who work even in the highly skilled service sector,” Matthias Holzhey, economist at UBS CIO WM, said.
Sydney’s relatively large property size ensures it performs better on this metric.
Business Spectator
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Luxury housing market set to increase in 2016 while cheaper suburbs slow in Sydney
NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/k/n/4/5/3/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gkmv1f.png/1446196105853.jpg[/img]Prices of luxury properties are tipped to rise significantly in 2016.
by Su-Lin Tan
Houses worth more than $2 million in Sydney's lower north shore, northern beaches and eastern suburbs could increase in price more than 10 per cent in 2016, while cheaper suburbs popular with investors cool, property expert Louis Christopher says.
Prices in Sydney's eastern suburbs will increase between 8 and 3 per cent in 2016, Mr Christopher, of independent property advisory and forecasting research company SQM Research, said.
It is a prediction that is at odds with several high-profile calls from economists that the housing market has peaked. Investment bank UBS said recently Australian property was "overvalued", after having risen 30 per cent since 2012.
Investors and buyers who wanted to live in their own homes had been driven to western Sydney by high prices in inner-city Sydney, Mr Christopher said.
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"They realised that they can obtain two properties for the price of one if they purchase in cheaper areas and gain stronger rental yields," he said at the 2015 Property Buyer Expo in Sydney's Homebush.
Experts say a clampdown on lending by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority is reducing demand for property. However, Mr Christopher predicted the strong NSW economy would be good for affluent parts of Sydney.
The lower north shore, which includes Mosman and Neutral Bay, has lagged in price growth since 2011. Prices will increase up to 12 per cent, from 3 per cent in the past three years, he said.
"The state economy has grown 5.9 per cent annualised in the last year. When that happens prestige areas tend to do well," he said. "As the cheaper areas rise to plus $1 million for houses owner-occupiers realise if they top up their budget they can get a better home."
People living in Sydney and Melbourne are even buying expensive Brisbane properties.
"We are seeing Sydney and Melbourne buyers at levels we haven't seen in quite a while," John Johnston, of Brisbane's Johnston Dixon, said. "They are buying to live particularly along the river, where flood concerns are over."
McGrath's Michael Coombs, who sells property on Sydney's lower north shore, said he would not be going anywhere this Christmas.
"We are still getting so many offers in the $5 million to $12 million range. We don't always get the price the sellers wants, but we are getting offers," he said.
Luxury agent Abercromby's Real Estate's Jock Langley said there was a shortage of properties in the $3 million to $20 million bracket in Melbourne.
"We get multiple offers on most assets especially in Toorak, Kew, Brighton and Canterbury," he said.
In Sydney, Parramatta house prices have risen 55 per cent since 2012, Liverpool 52 per cent and the inner west 46 per cent, SQM Research said.
But Mr Christopher said housing prices would not go backwards.
"While many are forecasting a property crash in 2016 in Sydney, this is certainly not my prediction."
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Even foreign investors are being priced out of Sydney
NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/k/o/1/z/w/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gkmiqn.png/1446354817766.jpg[/img]The image, but not reality: Foreign investors aren't all ultra-net worth, super rich, PRD Nationwide says. Dave Tacon
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by Michael Bleby
Sydney's three years of double-digit house-price growth have pushed prices so high that they are now edging the majority of Chinese foreign investors out of the market, despite the dollar's recent fall.
The sustained price growth that has generated concerns about a socially damaging lack of access to home ownership for locals is having a similar effect on foreign investors, many of whom are limited to similar budgets, real estate agency PRD Nationwide says.
"Overseas investors are also turning toward the Brisbane and Queensland property markets as Sydney and Melbourne markets appear too expensive to gain a foothold," PRD says in its second-half Australia Economic And Property Report.
The Australian dollar's 29 per cent decline against the yuan over the past three years has made real estate cheaper for investors, but the report makes clear that not even this has been sufficient to keep the majority of Chinese investors in the game in Sydney, where prices are significantly overvalued, investment bank UBS said last week.
The report knocks the widely held but inaccurate notion about the wealth of investors from China.
MYTH
Separate research from Sydney academics has already made it clear that Chinese investments, which make up only 2 per cent of the $270 billion residential market in Australia, have no effect on housing prices.
"There's this myth that foreign investors are all ultra-net worth, super rich and can afford penthouses, which is not the case," said Asti Diaswati, PRD Nationwide's national research manager.
"I would say at least half to 60 per cent of foreign investors coming are 'ordinary' in the sense that they have a $500,000-to-$600,000 budget.
"The difference is that they might already have that money before they buy and are ready to buy, as opposed to us who are looking and saying 'How am I going to save the 20 per cent deposit?'"
The unaffordable nature of central Sydney prices was driving investors to more affordable locations within the state and interstate, Dr Mardiasmo said.
"They are referred to our other agents in Penrith or in Newcastle or Coffs Harbour to be able to buy in those areas where the median price is a bit lower, but there is still that high capital growth," she said.
"Those places – Penrith, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle – their growth rate is in double digits, but the prices are not, the median prices are not yet in that $1 million-plus [category] in the way the Sydney CBD is."
Foreign investment continues to grow in Victoria. Overseas buyers accounted for 26 per cent of total demand for new houses, up from 16.7 per cent in the June quarter,National Australia Bank's Residential Property Survey last week showed.
Asian-owned local banks have led the charge in lending to large-scale residential projects, boosting loans for land and residential development for the past five years faster than local major banks, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in its Financial Stability Review last month.
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Lord Andrew Hay of Knight Frank: Sydney on billionaires list
Lisa Allen
[Image: lisa_allen.png]
Property & Tourism Reporter
Sydney
[Image: 845646-b81d2a46-81e7-11e5-9951-8df9a90a4e4d.jpg]
Knight Frank says Sydney was a standout real estate performer for the year to September. Source: Supplied
[b]As the appetite for luxury property grows, Sydney has made the short list for wealthy individuals, according to the Scottish Lord who sold Britain’s most expensive house for £140 million ($300m).[/b]
Lord Andrew Hay, Knight Frank’s London-based global head of residential, said 15 years ago Sydney was not a high priority for billionaire buyers.
“We believe the number of destinations where high net worths want to go is shrinking and their criteria for where they would like to go is changing. Sydney meets quite a lot of that criteria,” Lord Hay told The Australian.
Sydney had a stable government and economy, transparent rule of law, sensible property financing, security, good education and quality of life, he said.
“Those things have been there for a long time but there have been lots of other alternative places that the high-net-worth individual would have gone to, but they are closing down quite quickly partly because of the tax situations,” Lord Hay said.
Hong Kong and Singapore were largely off the menu for wealthy buyers because it cost 23-24 per cent in taxes to make a real estate acquisition.
Releasing its global cities index yesterday, Knight Frank said Sydney and Vancouver were the standout performers in the year to September. Sydney’s 13.7 per cent annual price growth was due to the weak Australian dollar, an undersupply of new homes and a strong local economy.
In Australia for Knight Frank’s Asia-Pacific conference, Lord Hay said the business was strong in commercial real estate in Sydney but must expand its residential division to cater for the plethora of cashed-up buyers.
“Our plan is to grow it, and to be as successful as we have been in other parts of the world, because in other parts of the world residential has been the big driver of the business and commercial has followed,” he said.
“There are some cities that have gone forwards and some backwards. You could argue New York has gone backwards in terms of its logistics, it’s quite an old city, whereas Sydney is fantastically vibrant. But it is still a tough place to get to. From a global investor perspective, the best is yet to come for Sydney.”
Lord Hay believes Indian investors will be big buyers of Sydney real estate because of the language and legal system. “We have eight offices in India and what we are seeing now is causing us to put Indians right up the list,” he said. “They like the same as the Chinese, waterfronts and new high rise and trophy buildings. The Chinese are shrewd, the Indians are almost even shrewder.”
He said an unidentified Russian buyer purchased the house at Henley on 80ha fronting the Thames in 2011. The £140m record still stands.
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Western Sydney housing demand 'very strong'
NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/k/t/p/j/2/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gkslf5.png/1446980433483.jpg[/img]Buyers attending Stockland's VIP pre-release of land at its new Altrove housing estate near Rouse Hill.Supplied
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by Larry Schlesinger
The boom may have petered out in Sydney's established housing market, but not in the western suburbs where demand for new housing continues to outstrip supply.
On Sunday, the country's biggest listed house and land developer, Stockland, bussed in 200 customers to the Novotel hotel in Baulkham Hills to take part in a ballot for a VIP pre-release of land at its new Altrove housing estate near Rouse Hill.
Those chosen will get the the opportunity to buy one of 40 lots next weekend, ahead of the official launch of Altrove next year.
About 3000 people have registered on Stockland's Altrove website,10 times the number of lots the developer plan to release over first 12 months of the project.
"On average, we continue to receive between 50 and 100 new customer inquiries [for each of our western Sydney communities] every week, with first-home buyers and upgraders representing more than 70 per cent of our customers and the balance of inquiries coming from investors," said Gavin Tonnet, Stockland general manager for NSW Residential.
"We're using a ballot as a fair and equitable way to prioritise the opportunities for invited customers to participate," Mr Tonnet said.
At Oran Park, billionaire land owners the Perich family used an online ballot to prioritise buyers after receiving 1400 registrations for a 40-lot release.
Oran Park is a joint venture between the Perich's Greenfields Development Company and the state government developer, Urban Growth NSW (previously called Landcom).
About 700 people took part in the online ballot with those successful given the opportunity to purchase the following weekend.
Only half the 40 lots sold on the day, but Greenfields director Mark Perich told The Australian Financial Review this was not surprising given these were the most expensive land releases at Oran Park with 600 square metre lots priced from $540,000.
STRONG MARKET
Mr Perich said Greenfields expected to sell about 700 lots this calendar year. "The market is very strong," he said.
Laurie Rose, manager of urban strategy at Calibre Consulting and an adviser on Oran Park, said while land enquiries remained very high in Western Sydney, they had come off their peaks.
"My suspicion is that its investors that have dropped off, which is pleasing as they were as high as 70 per cent of the market," Mr Rose said.
He added that prices had flattening but that there was no lack of demand.
According to the Housing Industry Association, Sydney lot prices surged nearly 19 per cent over the 12 months to June, to a median of $350,000.
But they were unchanged over the June quarter with sales totalling just over 1200, 14 per cent lower than the same time last year.
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