Acreage Market Wrap - 23rd May 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? 

With kids going back to school as normal next week and after enjoying a chicken schnitzel pub meal with the family earlier this week plus sitting down for Sunday brunch in a cafe at the top end of Windsor the Coronavirus restrictions have certainly given a lot of us a new appreciation for the little things in life.

As John McGrath said earlier this week, we’ve got to this first stage of the Post-Covid-19 period after only 2 months of restrictions which is about 4 months ahead of what was anticipated. There are lots of positives that need to be taken into consideration when you start trying to assess what the real impact the Coronavirus will have on the property market in the coming months.

One thing that’s for sure is that there’s been some very irresponsible reporting in the media during this Coronavirus pandemic, for example, one of the Fairfax publications predicted that there would be between 50,000 - 150,000 deaths in Australia due to Covid-19.

Sadly this week the Coronavirus death toll in Australia reached over 100 people, which is over 100 more than we would ever wish for, and we would much prefer that there were zero deaths from this pandemic, but, thankfully the figures predicted in the newspaper weren’t even close, and now we’re seeing articles via this same media company and others about the property market dropping by over 30%.

Over the past 3 decades I’ve seen a lot of ‘chicken little’ reporting in the newspapers about the real estate market. A couple of years ago there was the ‘bricks and slaughter’ report on 60mins, before that there was a guy from the USA called Harry Dent who apparently predicted the GFC. Harry Dent held sold out events as he toured Australia spruiking that the Australian property market was about to crash (which by the way didn’t happen) and back in the late ‘90’s there was a real estate trainer, Neil Jenman who put out a Boom & Bust report which predicted that the market would Bust... which didn’t even come close to happening.

Throughout all of these periods of predicted slumps the property market performed so much better than any of these sensationalised claims had predicted, in fact, in some cases the opposite happened and we went through a Boom period instead.

In fact, this week the President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, Adrian Kelly came forward and said...

“Forecasts saying that house prices will drop up to 30 per cent, are highly questionable. He said, “We are in unprecedented times and anyone that suggests they can forecast with any acceptable degree of probability is being highly fanciful,” 

“We can only look at what is happening in the market place at the moment as well as in previous times of high unemployment to provide pointers to likely outcomes. 

“Currently we have a situation where listings are decreasing yet the enquiry level from prospective buyers is increasing.

"It is simple economics that when supply decreases and demand remains that prices edge upwards, they certainly don’t drop.” 

I agree. We are in unprecedented times and it’s going to be an interesting, uncertain road ahead but every market, whether you invest in shares, bonds or property, the market always has a level of uncertainty to it....and real estate has always been seen as a long term investment.

When buying an acreage property you shouldn’t look to buy your family home based purely on the market, but instead you should make your decision based on your life.

You’ll be very lucky to ever be able to pick exactly where the top or the bottom of any market is.

You see, who knows what incentives we are going to see the government come up with in the future to boost the economy and keep the property market moving. For example, we’re already hearing reports that Stamp Duty may be abolished in the future which will help to make moving cheaper, and the building sector came out this week with several recommendations and called for urgent reforms. 

Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia said

“Some big and bold thinking is required to get the Australian economy going again after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As Australia’s biggest employer which contributes over 13 per cent of GDP, the property industry can be a powerhouse behind economic recovery and growth with the right policy settings and market incentives from the federal, state and territory governments,” Mr Morrison said. 

The Property Council have put forward a 7 Point Plan for Economic Recovery which includes a Housing Construction Economic Kickstart including a $50,000 ‘New Home Boost’ scheme to startup construction for new housing, generate jobs and boost consumer confidence with the potential to stimulate construction of 50,000 new dwellings.

You can see more details about the Property Council’s proposed 7 Point Plan here...

It’s also likely that in an effort to stimulate the economy there could be a push for the Federal Government and the Foreign Investment Review Board to lift some of the current restrictions on foreign ownership, which previously had a major impact on property price growth.

Speaking of foreign ownership, Juwai IQI also announced the launch of Juwai.asia this week which is likely to open up opportunities to promote acreage property not just to Chinese buyers but also to buyers throughout the rest of Asia, which could help boost activity in the acreage sector.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 431 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 246 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 128 in The Hills area and another 57 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown. 

Even after 21 new acreage listings entered the market this week, the total number of listings For Sale has dropped from the high of 450 properties For Sale at the start of May and now there’s currently 19 fewer acreages available For Sale across the entire region.

Sales activity was up on last week as there were 9 acreage properties Sold this week. Plus, there’s currently 19 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field this week, acreage enquiries increased again plus there were more people out looking for acreage at today’s Open Homes than we’ve seen for months. 

This week, I’ll be launching another amazing ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing on 5 acres in Marayla. If you’ve already registered for early access to www.OffMarketAcres.com.au keep an eye on your inbox so that you can be amongst the first to get all the details when we launch this ‘Off-Market Acres’ property in the Maraylya later this week.

As Autumn comes to an end for another year, I’m currently putting the finishes touches on a special Post-Covid 19 copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) which will be published early next month.

The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) will be covering important insights into the 4 types of acreage buyers that are currently out there in the market, along with the 3 pricing fundamentals of acreage properties, as well as the 2 types of economists that you need be aware of, especially if you’re trying to pick the trends in the property market - plus I’ll be sharing the #1 thing that your acreage agent must put all of their energy and focus on over the coming weeks and months if they’re going to help you achieve the best outcome possible during this post Covid-19 period.

I’m looking forward to sharing this upcoming edition of The Acreage Report with you. If you’d like to be amongst the first to get your hands on this special edition, then simply register at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au or alternatively, when you register for ‘Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also immediately receive access to the current edition of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition)

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market.

Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

So, that’s it for this 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, stay safe and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent