In recent months, we’ve started to see property markets in Sydney turn back towards favouring the buyers.
Slowly, we’re starting to see more listings come back onto the market and that means it is becoming increasingly important to buy a property that gives you the very best chance to not only sell – but sell strongly.
As the best buyers agent in Melbourne, we focus on three important factors that drive every single property we buy – owner occupier appeal, scarcity and of course location. If you’re able to tick these three boxes then you’re going to have a large pool of buyers, regardless of the market conditions.
In real estate, the goal is to have as many people lining up to buy your property (or properties very similar to the one you own) as you possibly can. In fact, the goal of most sales agents is simply to find as many buyers as possible in the hope that they start bidding against one another.
If you can find a property with a combination of owner occupier appeal, scarcity and location, you’re very likely to get that large pool of buyers whenever you choose to sell. And it’s that same large pool of buyers that will be the drivers for house price growth over a long period of time.
Location
In NSW, our main focus when it comes to location is to buy into areas that have a long track record of capital growth.
For that reason, we seek to invest in locations like the Inner ring of Sydney or Certain parts of Newcastle / Central Coast. These areas have multiple suburbs that have managed to continue to grow through all sorts of conditions. Whether that’s been lockdowns, elections or Royal Commissions.
These suburbs continue to grow because they have consistently had strong demand. People are lining up to live in areas such as Bondi because of how great the location is and the fact that it offers such great amenity.
If you’re choosing to buy into a location that hasn’t grown much in last 20 years, then you aren’t investing at all. You’re simply speculating. Many would-be investors have fallen flat chasing suburbs and locations that haven’t had a proven track record of growth.
If you’re buying into a blue chip location, it’s highly likely that you’re purchasing a property that has a large pool of buyers and a history of capital growth.
Owner Occupier Appeal
In Australia, the vast majority of property buyers are owner occupiers (70% actually). In fact, investors only make up 30% of all property purchases. That’s because we all need a place to live and most people do ultimately want to own their own home.
When you’re investing, it’s critical that you think like an owner occupier and identify areas and properties that will appeal to owner occupiers. This can differ greatly depending on where you are investing.
If you’re looking to buy a property in Bondi, then you’re likely going to be buying an apartment. That’s because most owner occupiers in Bondi live in apartments.
Compare that to many different areas of Queensland, for example, New Farm in Brisbane you’ll probably find that owner occupiers demand larger houses that are set up for families.
By focusing on want the demographics want in a given suburb, you’ll be able to purchase an investment property that will attract the largest pool of buyers.
Scarcity
The final factor to look out for when trying to maximise the buyer pool is scarcity.
If you are trying to sell a property and there are ten others just like it just down the road, then the odds of selling it for a premium price are greatly reduced. Similarly, the odds that the property has significantly increased in value over a long period of time are also likely to be low.
That’s because your pool of buyers is spread out over many different properties that are all effectively the same.
Finding a property that has a degree of scarcity to it takes time. In Sydney, that might be a strata property that doesn’t have strata fees. A small building with parking and walking distance to the beach. It can take many different forms, but you can be sure that it will have buyers lining up.
If you are able to follow these three guidelines, it doesn’t matter where you invest, you can be certain that you’ll have a large pool of buyers ready to purchase your property along with strong capital growth over a long period of time.