Opportunity is always around. Some markets are easier to buy in, some are tougher. You can always give yourself an edge over general market returns by buying one specific property well. Being prepared to walk away when required and acting quickly when a quality option appears.
You don’t buy the market. You always buy a deal. At the moment the Brisbane market is definitely two speed, more likely multi speed as various properties can perform quite differently. 2023 is no longer the run away strength of 2021.
Two data points from recent weeks that illustrate the multi speed market.
68 Nyleta St, Coopers Plains
* 23 registered bidders
* Sold 100k over the reserve price with developers and home owners duking it out
* Sale price of 1.095M
The sales agent made the following interesting comment:: “What I can tell you is that buyers in this market are some of the smartest buyers I’ve ever dealt with and they know that now is the time to buy……and I’ve been selling real estate for 50 years”
Generally buyers are always getting smarter due to the democratisation of information these days, in my view, however I am a fan of the agent’s point of view also.
The next property is in a quality suburb and demonstrates a reality of the 2023 market. If the seller wants what they might have achieved 18 months ago then they can be on the market for a while. Adjust your selling expectations quickly if you want to sell.
* Priced at 1.1M the first week
* Offers over 975k the second week
There are opportunities to buy well and bargain hard, also there are ‘market gaps’ that we have noticed, where the buying is relatively better than other price points and property profiles.
One such market gap as a sample.
Quality middle ring suburbs, just a little above the owner occupier competition, ideally in tired condition with a long term tenant rented under market, 750k can be a reasonable budget. The owner occupiers are relatively active compared with the investor market and properties that don’t appeal to them for fixable reasons (not chronic reasons) represent good opportunity.
A solid brick house on a valuable block of land, in a gentrifying pocket in a middle ring suburb.
These properties have compressed in price to not a lot above entry level buying, compared with 18 months ago.
There are other market gaps that have popped up due to the multi speed market. We are in that stage of the market where we see a lot more interesting deals than we have qualified buyers.
