Lockdown aside, agents remain bullish
- Written by: Tim McKibbin, CEO, Real Estate Institute of NSW
Another week of navigating lockdown restrictions awaits. Agents can show one buyer through a property at a time and complement this with virtual tours and other non-face to-face communication, prioritising the community’s safety.
Agents are proving adept at getting deals done and prices are not suffering.
In fact, lockdown aside, agents remain bullish. Demand remains extremely strong and supply is constrained, with recent reports suggesting potential vendors are delaying their sale plans due to fears they won’t be able to find a suitable alternative to move to.
The supply issue is systemic and the infrastructure funding announced in the Budget, intended to unlock housing supply, will take time to deliver tangible impacts. Even then, it’s not enough.
For the medium term we can expect prices will be buoyed by the strength of demand. CoreLogic numbers from last week shows price growth rolls on across the board which, while slowing, is still significant.
The Reserve Bank meets again tomorrow but the cash rate will likely remain on hold for some time yet. Some major lenders believe an increase could occur next year, ahead of the RBA’s previously stated timeline, but only time will tell. COVID-19 has a way of shifting the goalposts rather quickly.
The pace of price growth may be easing but it remains to be seen if the Budget outlook that tips house prices will peak at the end of the year will prove premature.
Certainly, individual markets behave differently. Price growth in select regional markets can be expected, based on current trends, to continue into 2022.
Pent-up demand in select metropolitan markets such as the eastern suburbs should also support continued price growth beyond the end of the year.
All in all, the current lockdown will hopefully only be a temporary blip in the current trajectory of the market.
