Sydney has a rising population and access to some of the world’s best beaches, restaurants and career opportunities, so why wait to buy,asks Jane Riley
With its balmy climate, stunning beaches and relaxed lifestyle, Sydney has always been a popular city, and with its population set to increase by 1.7 million by 2036, according to a 2009 NSW Government forecast, there is no chance its popularity will wane.
Being ranked by The Mercer Index as one of the top ten cities in the world for quality of life, and as the nation’s centre for commerce, it is no wonder Sydney attracts people from all over the world, nor that it has the most expensive real estate among Australia’s capital cities.
So for those considering relocating to Sydney, how is the current market faring and what properties can they expect to find? While the global financial crisis was, as Robert Simeon, Director of Richardson & Wrench Mosman & Neutral Bay says, “a speed bump on Australia’s 17 years of uninterrupted economic growth,” it appears that Sydney’s property market is well on the way to recovery.
“The houses are still the same. Once the confidence comes back, which we’re now starting to see, it resonates back through the market.”
Says Hopkins, “Figures from RP Data’s newly-released residential property database show that Australian house prices rose at the end of last year, with Sydney out-performing most other capital cities. House values in Sydney increased by 3.2%.”
According to John McGrath, Director of McGrath real estate, their inner city offices recently hit an almost all-time high of 92% auction clearance rate, which he says is an indication that “we are likely to see a strong surge in prices as buyers don’t want to miss the boat.”
“The bottom-up led recovery has well and truly started to cascade upwards,” he says. “In fact, we are also seeing some healthy top-end results with a recent sale of $23 million for an estate in Bellevue Hill, indicating that even the luxury end of the market may have recovered to its previous highs of 2007.”
So why the “boom” when we are still on the fringe of the fiscal crisis? McGrath sites four main reasons. “Australia’s economy is one of the strongest in the world, and we’re finding that a large percentage of current buyers want to get some good quality property while there are still discounts. Interest rates, whilst having had two recent increases with more to come, are still historically low. New South Wales’ population is rapidly growing, but there’s been little building activity to keep pace with it.”
Read more in the March issue of Living Abroad magazine
