NSW: Sydney’s northern beaches has traditionally struggled with a shortage of houses to buy

Homebuyers have been camping outside development offices in Western Sydney for up to two days to be front of the queue at new land releases. It comes as Sydney buyers continue to grapple with a decline in available properties and an acute shortage of shovel-ready land for building new houses. All but two of the available lots in the new Hampton Court release were sold out on the day. The lots ranged in size from 312 sqm to 637 sqm, with a price tag from $400,000 to $620,000. Terry Goldacre, the managing director of Harrington Estates, the developer of Catherine Park Estate, said demand for quality land was high. Suburbs in the region such as St Johns Park, Abbotsbury and Wakeley had less than five listings in December, despite all being heavily populated areas with more than 1000 dwellings. Source: x Homebuyers camp out in western Sydney for up to tw... Desperate homebuyers have been camping outside development offices in Western Sydney for up to two days to be front of the queue at new land releases. www.realestate.com.au

CoreLogic has released its final auction report for last weekend, which recorded a final clearance rate of 77.1%, down from the previous week’s 6-year high of 79.3%: The results across Sydney and Melbourne are still pointing to rising price growth, based on past correlations: Source: x Final auction clearance rate retraces from 6-year ... CoreLogic has released its final auction report for last weekend, which recorded a final clearance rate of 77.1%, down from the previous week’s 6-year high of 79.3%: www.macrobusiness.com.au

By contrast, across the rest of the nation vacancy rates are tight and rental growth is strong. we can expect rental vacancies to remain high and rents to remain weak across Melbourne and Sydney as long Australia’s international border remains shut to migrants and international students. Immigration is the key driver of household formation and rental demand in these two cities, especially with respect to high-rise apartments. Source: x Inner Melbourne and Sydney suffer double-digit ren... The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) this week held a webinar discussing the “State of the Nation’s Housing: 2021 and beyond”. www.macrobusiness.com.au

Just one more Saturday until the Autumn selling season kicks off. And it is apparent that there is shortage of Sydney property listings. Autumn traditionally out ranks spring as the biggest selling season of the year, with March its busiest month. But overall listings are down 12 per cent on the same time last year, according to CoreLogic who calculate there are 16,000 listings across Sydney. We could expect reduced stock to have a mild upwards impact on prices, but 2021 has been accompanied by the pent up surge in demand from buyers that is sending prices way higher. At the end of January, typically the slowest month of the year for sales momentum, CoreLogic had Sydney dwelling prices up 1.99 per cent annually, boosted by house prices rather than apartment prices. Now, halfway through February, that annualised increase sits at 2.22 per cent. Get details at: x Shortage of property listings in autumn could have... With overall property listings down 12 per cent, the Sydney market is set for an autumn price boost as buyers compete for the limited stock available. www.realestate.com.au

This week Dr Murray was interviewed by The Guardian where he tipped that smaller markets will lead this property cycle: Our macro-stabilisation policy works by juicing house prices”… “This is a policy most central banks have adopted. Secondly, we’re just at that point in the cycle. The best parallel to the situation now is 2004. I think we’re in a very similar phase right now. Sydney boomed early, then it tapered off. Then the rest of the country shot up for four years in line with the broad global house price cycle. My view is that pretty much all markets outside of Melbourne and Sydney will lead the boom. There are two primary reasons for this view: 1) affordability; and 2) juicy rental yields. To illustrate the first point – affordability – below are charts plotting median house prices in the five main capitals against the weighted average of the other capital cities. Get details at: x Why smaller capitals will drive the property boom ... Dr Cameron Murray is a good friend of the site and one of the few commentators in the country to tip a property boom mid last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. www.macrobusiness.com.au

Regional NSW continued to enjoy strong demand and delivered capital growth of 4.7 per cent over the past three months, substantially higher than Greater Sydney at 1.6 per cent over the same period, new research has revealed. As expected, areas attracting lifestyle buyers – including Byron Bay, the Central Coast (North Avoca, Terrigal and Wamberal), the Hunter Valley, Wollongong and the NSW South Coast – continue to outperform the wider market.' “A prime example of this is Sydney-South West with the potential addition of 6,090 houses over the next 24 months, being a 5.7 per cent uplift on the established stock. However, while the short-term risk is elevated, over the medium to long term no dramatic price reductions are expected and houses still present a significantly lower level of risk than is associated with high-rise units,” the researcher’s findings read. “Young renters are more vulnerable to the increasing unemployment, and this is reflected in a sharp rise in vacancy rates not only in Sydney, but also across other CBDs in the country,” Riskwise said, adding, however, that the risk is likely to be mitigated over time with increased population. Source: x Popularity of houses in lifestyle areas tipped to ... Beachside suburbs are outperforming the wider market, with experts predicting the increasing popularity of lifestyle areas in NSW to continue over the medium and long term, boosting prices to record h... www.smartpropertyinvestment.com.au