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?

Following the record-breaking budget announcement on October 6th, the government has made it clear they want to support the housing market at all costs with the removal of responsible lending guidelines which should have a positive impact on the market especially with a suspected rate cut from 0.25% to 0.10% being predicted by a vast majority of analysts at the upcoming Reserve Bank meeting in November.

You see, what’s happened is that lending policy had gone too far after ASIC lost its responsible lending case against Westpac, as the RBA and Treasury both issued warnings against the strict policies causing potential economic impact.

Less than a week later, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced he would overhaul the laws governing mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, and payday lending to streamline decisions on whether customers can afford the loans they seek.

This is promising news for the recovery of the COVID 19 economic recession, as a flow of loans will be encouraged due to less onerous credit rules accompanied by easing interest rates.   Ultimately, customers will face faster access to loans under simpler rules, taking away the confusion over lending obligations for banks and finance companies.

It will soon be easier for Australians to take out mortgages and refinance their home loans and there has already been a surge in the market with new housing finance data showing a record $16.3 billion in new home loans for owner occupiers.

Combined with record low interest rates, long overdue easing of responsible lending, consistent healthy clearance rates and more new listings coming online, there is good news for both acreage owners and for buyers.

Also, Herron Todd White came out with their October report and it was interesting to see that Sydney, Melbourne & the Central Coast remained in the Declining Market position on the flip-side the lifestyle areas like the Southern Highlands, the Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour and Ballina/Byron Bay are in the midst of a very active, rising market as the working from home flexibility is seeing a flood of buyers are seizing this opportunity to escape away from the city (to a more affordable lifestyle) while they still can.

As I’ve reported previously, I feel that the acreage sector will play a very important role in Australia’s economic recovery, especially after the record levels of investment in infrastructure planned by both the Federal Government and the NSW Government.

Today I spoke to a client of mine who is involved in large scale projects and he said that they have seen a large increase in the number on major infrastructure projects that are planned to commence in these next 12 months.

So with so much construction and housing development planned, the urban sprawl is naturally going to bring forward rezonings around the fringes of existing residential suburbs, plus, there’s going to be an increase in demand for land to store equipment and machinery as industrial property continues to be an expensive option (for example 1/2 an acre of vacant land in St Marys industrial area is currently demanding $95,000 per year and that’s just for an empty block of land) ...then when you add on top all of the people in Sydney who want to move onto acreage for a better lifestyle, we’re going to see the demand for acreage starting to outstrip the supply which will put upward pressure on acreage prices.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 379 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 193 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury (which reduced by over 5% from last week), plus there are 124 acreages For Sale throughout The Hills district (which is off the back of a 7% increase in the available acreage stock in the Hills compared to last week) and another 58 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.
Overall there were 29 new acreage listings come onto the market this week, which included 9 new listings in the Hawkesbury, 15 new listings in the Hills.
There were a total of 7 acreage properties Sold this week (none of which were in the Hills area) but a really positive indication that the acreage market is on the move more is that there are currently 28 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region, with a total 17 of the properties ‘Under Contract’ located in The Hawkesbury.

Out in the field this week, we have had a really busy week with 29 Stringer Road, Kellyville, 40 Pitt Street, Richmond selling for a record price of $1.23m to some local buyers downsizing from acres as well as an excellent turn-out witnessed the acreage property at 68-76 Whitegates Road, Londonderry sell under the hammer for $1.9m which was way above the reserve price. Once again Paul Grech our McGrath auctioneer did an excellent job with the 7 registered bidders and a total of 26 bids generating an outstanding result for the owners.

Also, three more acreage properties at 355 Blaxlands Ridge Road, Blaxlands Ridge, 209 Greens Road, Lower Portland and 50A St Marys Road, Berkshire Park went ‘Under Contract’ this week plus I listed 2 acreage properties that should come onto the market this week. One of them is an absolutely incredible ‘jaw-dropping’ property in Windsor Downs and the other is a unique creek front property in Londonderry. Make sure you keep an eye out for them.

It’s going to be a busy selling period between now and Christmas. So, if you’re thinking of taking advantage of the active Spring market right now could be the perfect time to make your move.

Also, this week I’ve been working on a brand new marketing strategy for acreage, which has been designed specifically to attract lots more acreage buyers to my acreage listings. This is a highly-targeted selling strategy that has been developed exclusively through McGrath and it’s not available via any other agent.

Whether you’d like to part of this new acreage marketing strategy or if you’d like to sell your property via our ‘Off-Market’ acres system, either way we’ve got you covered.

Alternatively, if you’re looking to purchase an acreage property I currently have a several acreages for sale ‘Off-Market’. So, if you want to be amongst the first to get early access to any of my ‘off-market’ listings, check out... www.offmarketacres.com.au

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 Go The Panthers and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent