Acreage Market Wrap - 14th March 2020

Hi, my name is Greg Vincent and welcome to this week’s Acreage Market Wrap where I share an insight into How’s The Acreage Market?

So this week, the Coronavirus has created quite a bit of uncertainty in the market as many business owners are now trying to anticipate foreign trade impacts and cashflow projections.

In fact, I had a buyer pulled out from an acreage purchase in Annangrove earlier this week due to concerns about their suppliers being able to provide materials for their construction business during the short to medium term. (But the good news for the owner is that we have another buyer for the home who should be exchanging contracts early this week).

Whilst this was all unfolding, I did some extensive research and I discovered that the ships out of China are back on the move and a large percentage of the delay in ship movements was actually due to the Chinese New Year, not so much from the Coronavirus as had been reported.

For anyone interested, here’s the link to the shipping information I discovered.

I also spoke with another business owner I know who regularly imports furniture from China and they’ve been receiving emails saying please place orders because they’re back to work and production is as usual. So, as you can see the exact impact of the Coronavirus is still such an unknown.

One thing's for sure is that whilst digital media has many positives, its biggest downfall is that it amplifies negative news dramatically.

There's been a lot of panic amongst the world and times like these calls for a calm and logical approach if you're looking at investing.

You see, when the share market drops as evidenced by the ASX 200 index shedding eight percent in value during February, historically many share market investors start withdrawing their equities and place their money in safer alternatives like property.

With interest rates at historically low levels and an unprecedented number of property investments now becoming positively geared with rental yields returning more than the mortgage repayments.

There are some great opportunities to invest in property at present and this current climate of investment affordability is something Australia has never actually seen before.

In the words of Warren Buffett: "The time to be greedy is when everyone else is fearful."

...and I anticipate that this current period of time will bookended by the positive start to 2020 and a return to a positive market after the period of Coronavirus nervousness actually settles down.

My greatest concern for the acreage market, is that currently on the latest Herron Todd White property clock, the Sydney property market was sitting firmly at 9 o'clock (a Rising Market), but we may find that due to the nervousness being experienced globally, the cycle of price recovery may actually become a shorter cycle than first anticipated and the housing market could actually reach the 12 o'clock position faster than first predicted.

Which would be a shame for acreage owners, because the recovery in the property market hasn't actually reached the acreage sector as yet and it's likely that we'll have to wait until the nervousness settles down before we see the double digit price growth that we were anticipated to occur around the middle to later part of the year, which looked set to occur off the back of the strong growth experienced in the housing market over these past 6-7 months.

On a positive note, bear in mind that acreage sales will still keep occurring, however, if you're looking to sell understand that the acreage market looks set to remain a lot more competitive than anticipated during these Autumn months as you'll see from this week's statistics.

So, what’s happening in the acreage market?

There are currently a total of 397 acreage properties For Sale across the entire region.

This overall total includes 218 acreage properties For Sale throughout all of The Hawkesbury, 125 in The Hills and another 54 For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, there’s been another 16 new acreage listings come onto the market but only 5 acreage properties were Sold this week (less than half the number of sales that happened last week) but on a positive note there are 15 acreage properties that are currently ‘Under Contract’ across the entire region.

Out in the field, this week I listed an incredible acreage property which has a magnificent home plus a 2nd accommodation, a tennis court, motorbike track, flying fox over the dam, plus a brand new, enormous 360m2 workshop on nearly 7 acres of some of the best land you'll find in the district.

I can't wait to share this stunning property out to my database. Personally I think it may even get snapped up before it goes onto the real estate websites.

If you'd like to know more about this property get in touch with me.

At today's auction at 6 O'Dell Street, Vineyard, the property was passed in, but, we do have a couple of parties that we are currently in negotiations with.

Also, earlier this week I had a buyer who was due to do a 2nd inspection on another property this week, but when the husband flew home from overseas he was unwell and has gone in for testing and they're unable to inspect until he gets the all clear from the Coronavirus test.

So as you can see The Coronavirus is having unexpected impacts in a number of ways.

But, this is also an important time to make sure that both you and your agent maintain a level head and stay in tune with what's really happening and not get swept up into all of the panic & hysteria.

If you want a more balanced understanding about what's happening in the acreage market make sure you grab a copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) which features an insight into ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' and outlines the Two Biggest Factors Set To Impact Acreage over the next 10 years.

The Acreage Report includes statistics and updates about exactly what's happening within the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market.

When you download your copy, I've also included instant access to The McGrath Report 2020 which features some great insights from property expert, John McGrath.

The report is FREE, you can access a copy right now at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au

Well there you have it, that’s it for another week’s Acreage Market Wrap.

If you’ve got any questions about anything I’ve shared this week or would like to discuss any of your acreage plans with me, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for watching.

Regards

Greg Vincent