It's not showing up in the public statistics yet but our opinion at First National is that prices have stabilised and absent some unforeseen development we think they will stick about the same level for a while.
 

The combination of reduced prices, lower inflation and falling interest rates have greatly restored affordability for real estate. The pressure on weekly rents from continuing interstate immigration, the absence of investment buyers from the market and a few other factors means that along with these lower prices the yields on investment properties are also improving.
 

If you're thinking of selling in this market you don't really need to jump into an auction just because you want a quick result or because you want to find “more” buyers. We recently completed a study of all of our sales since March last year that clearly indicates that, for our clients, private treaty works very well particularly in this market.
 

30.7% of our contract prices were within 2% of the last listed price;

17.3% were within between 2 and 3% of the last listed price;

17.3% were within between 3 and 4% of the last listed price; and,

13.4% were within 4 to 5% of the last listed price.
 

The means 78.7% of all our sales were made within 5% of the last listed price and about half were within 3% of the last listed price. Most of those sales were also within 30 days from the last listed price.

An outcome like this works for the seller and the process is very transparent for both the seller and the buyer.
 

Achieving these results without under pricing property comes from a professional approach to the entire sale process, marketing, negotiation and closing the sale.Marketing in this context is not advertising, anybody can do that, just part of it. Marketing is about how we make a property stand out and good marketing acts like an insurance policy that will ensure a higher price at negotiation when we find the buyer.

by David Hamilton