Prairie Girl Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 We are considering returning to Sydney in April 2014 after living there for a year in 2009-2010. At the time the real estate market seemed very competitive and over-valued, especially because we needed a three bedroom place. Can anyone shed some light on what it is like now compared to 2009-2010? Wondering about rental costs as well as the cost to buy 3 bedroom units or townhouses. Have prices increased, held steady, or decreased? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Dropped a bit (maybe 5%??) from then but gone up a touch over the past 9-10 months or so. Not by much it seems, although it's hard to tell because virtually all the data sources are so partisan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hasn't dropped in this area. I keep being amazed by the prices gained by vendors in this area. I think the drop has occurred in areas where the house prices were in the millions. My property cost $17500 many years ago, that's house and land. Houses in my street are fetching over $700k now and they are all the same vintage as mine - early 70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Hasn't dropped in this area. I keep being amazed by the prices gained by vendors in this area. I think the drop has occurred in areas where the house prices were in the millions. My property cost $17500 many years ago, that's house and land. Houses in my street are fetching over $700k now. Probably the case. I find pricing really variable here, you see stuff that's obviously seriously overpriced (I mean for market conditions) regularly and much more rarely something that looks well under. Whether it's agents kidding the vendors to try and get the contract to sell it, or vendors kidding themselves, I don't know. Bloke over the road is selling at the moment and wants $2-$2.1m for it. Look for other properties in the area for that sort of money and they are nearly all in a different league to his, but because his is new (a knock down rebuild) he reckons it's worth a massive premium. I (and others, eg friend who used to be a local EA) reckon $1.6-$1.7m is more the right sort of figure. $500K is a *huge* amount to be overpricing by. (It's not sold and been on the market for 5 months BTW) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Probably the case. I find pricing really variable here, you see stuff that's obviously seriously overpriced (I mean for market conditions) regularly and much more rarely something that looks well under. Whether it's agents kidding the vendors to try and get the contract to sell it, or vendors kidding themselves, I don't know. Bloke over the road is selling at the moment and wants $2-$2.1m for it. Look for other properties in the area for that sort of money and they are nearly all in a different league to his, but because his is new (a knock down rebuild) he reckons it's worth a massive premium. I (and others, eg friend who used to be a local EA) reckon $1.6-$1.7m is more the right sort of figure. $500K is a *huge* amount to be overpricing by. (It's not sold and been on the market for 5 months BTW) My next door neighbour put his house up recently, we went on line and saw that he was asking $2.4m for it, a 4 bed / 3 bath (or maybe only 2 bath can't remember. We were incredulous, we had guesstimated about $1.6m. He sold it within two weeks, we could not believe it. I don't know if he had a major rethink on the price but as it was within two weeks, then possibly not. OP - I don't really know what you mean by over valued, as I am a believer that the value is based on what people are willing to pay. We have been looking at houses for sale on a regular basis since we moved here in 2010 and have not noticed any particular change in prices amongst similar types / locations of houses. We have not looked at rentals since we moved here as we have been in one place the whole time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Many Knock down and rebuilds in my suburb, so I guess if they come up for sale in a year or two they will want at least 1m for them. It is all so stupid! Pay, let's say conservatively, $600k for property, knock down costs ??, I don't know, rebuild approx $300k. My mind boggles when I see the size of mortgages people have. There has to come a time when there are no buyers. My son, who has a senior management position, bought a house close to me with the aid of a $400k mortgage, which made me almost go spare! The house next to his sold for well over $600k just a few months ago. The lunacy has got to end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Many Knock down and rebuilds in my suburb, so I guess if they come up for sale in a year or two they will want at least 1m for them. It is all so stupid! Pay, let's say conservatively, $600k for property, knock down costs ??, I don't know, rebuild approx $300k. My mind boggles when I see the size of mortgages people have. There has to come a time when there are no buyers. My son, who has a senior management position, bought a house close to me with the aid of a $400k mortgage, which made me almost go spare! The house next to his sold for well over $600k just a few months ago. The lunacy has got to end. Wish I only needed a $400k mortgage! I would be over the moon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Wish I only needed a $400k mortgage! I would be over the moon. You could have that mortgage. The problem is migrants today will only consider the eastern suburbs, inner west, north shore or northern beaches. There are plenty more good suburbs that would be good to live in but you won't even consider them. That's the difference between the Aussie and the migrant. The Aussie will get on to the housing ladder, stay there for a few years, buy closer to his dream and then possibly with his 3rd home get the house he really wants in the suburb he dreamed of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Girl Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 Thanks for your responses everyone. Sounds like prices are basically similar to what we saw in 2010 but I realise the market could change any time. The news and real estate websites don't make it easy to figure out the true situation. My use of the term over-valued only refers to our own standard, someone else may have a totally different standard. I am not even that convinced 1 and 2 bedrooms are over-priced, it did seem like 3 bedrooms were pricey. The Hills is actually a nice area, but it's not for us and we might think about renting inner-city and just keeping our house here to rent out. One of our main reasons for moving back would be to enjoy the arts and culture scene as much as possible and if we just move to the burbs then we will wonder why we are there (speaking from previous existence in the burbs). There's nothing wrong here and we could stay in Calgary, but Sydney has gotten under our skin. We just want to enjoy all those fabulous cafes and cultural events and like the inner city of Sydney. Is it at all realistic to buy a 3 bedroom unit or townhouse in Summer Hill or Lane Cove for 700K? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 You could have that mortgage. The problem is migrants today will only consider the eastern suburbs, inner west, north shore or northern beaches. There are plenty more good suburbs that would be good to live in but you won't even consider them. That's the difference between the Aussie and the migrant. The Aussie will get on to the housing ladder, stay there for a few years, buy closer to his dream and then possibly with his 3rd home get the house he really wants in the suburb he dreamed of. I'm not sure that's entirely true - there are plenty of people on this board who have moved to places like the Shire or the new build estates in the North West I do agree that the demographic of migrants to Sydney has robably changed over the years, and there are a number of factors in this, most importantly the high increase in housing cost here over the past 15-20 years (most of which, of course, wasn't caused by migrants). Because of that, most families of more modest means are more interested in places they don't have to spend so much on housing to get started, or have to make so many compromises in terms of commute times or perceived attractiveness of suburb. You can see it on this board - people are more interested in going to QLD or WA because they think the quality of life result will be better. Therefore Sydney tends to attract a different demographic now - more single/couple young professionals (who can still afford to live in central areas with more life and easier commuting because they don't need space and schools) and also more better-off professional families The othere factor in this I think is changing migration rules - years ago it was much easier to come on a WHV and end up staying for good, and quite a few of the people who've been here 20+ years did just that. The migration programme (I'm not knocking this BTW) has increasingly focused on highly skilled, qualified and experienced people. So there are a lot more people in their 30s and 40s with highly valued skills who come. Most of these people aren't coming to Aus because it's always been their dream or because they are escaping a dire situation at home; they probably had a comfortable middle-class existence in the UK and they're not going to come unless there's something in it for them. Why should they give up, say, a comfy life in a 4 bed house in a good area with good schools, an easy commute for London, and travel to the other side of the world to get on the bottom of the ladder with a 2 bed fibro shack somewhere in the Western Suburbs? Ain't gonna happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmconley Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 We are considering returning to Sydney in April 2014 after living there for a year in 2009-2010. At the time the real estate market seemed very competitive and over-valued, especially because we needed a three bedroom place. Can anyone shed some light on what it is like now compared to 2009-2010? Wondering about rental costs as well as the cost to buy 3 bedroom units or townhouses. Have prices increased, held steady, or decreased? Thanks. Hi - we have a 3 bedroom fully furnished house in Kellyville - in the northwest of Sydney for rent from 13 April to 13 August. If you are interested, you can private message me. If you email me your telephone number, I can make free telephone calls to England and I will telephone you. We are asking $700/week rental. We have 2 indoor Siamese cats that need caring for, so if you are allergic to cats, sorry! Hope to hear from you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmconley Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Hi - we have a 3 bedroom fully furnished house in Kellyville - in the northwest of Sydney for rent from 13 April to 13 August. If you are interested, you can private message me. If you email me your telephone number, I can make free telephone calls to England and I will telephone you. We are asking $700/week rental. We have 2 indoor Siamese cats that need caring for, so if you are allergic to cats, sorry! Hope to hear from you. I just reread your post - did you mean 2013 or 2014? We are going in 2013 - this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Girl Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 I just reread your post - did you mean 2013 or 2014? We are going in 2013 - this year! Thanks but we aren't coming until 2014, and we are in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Girl Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Just bumping up my question if it would be realistic to buy a 3 bedroom unit or townhouse in Summer Hill or Lane Cove for 700K? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmconley Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Definitely 2013 - we will probably go on a long holiday in 2014 as well, but haven't thought about it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmconley Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I realised that you are in Canada - if you are coming to OZ in 2014 and are interested in renting our house, email me on bobc29@gmail.com later this year and I will let you know the available dates for our house for 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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