After a year like no other, 2021 has seen an unprecedented start to the property market year. Across January 2021 The Agency’s east coast operation saw a 94 per cent uplift in listings and the network overall achieved an increase of 80 per cent in sales turnover on the same time last year.
The increased sales activity on the east coast has not been contained to a particular area or region. Key agents in regional and metro areas have registered unparalleled market demand for the January period. Central Coast specialist Brian Whiteman turned over $21 million worth of property across 20 sales and broke three suburb records in the process. Inner city Sydney agent Brad Gillespie sold ten properties in January totalling over $12 million worth of sales and averaged 70 attendees per open home. And in the luxury eastern suburbs market Ben Collier sold $46.55 million worth of property across five sales.
“In my 30 year career I have not seen this level of activity in a January property market, the team’s results have been extraordinary,” Matt Lahood The Agency’s CEO explained.
“We are seeing unprecedented stock levels and buyer activity due to a number of factors. There is considerable pent up buyer and vendor activity from 2020, as many people placed their property goals on hold. Additionally, with no overseas travel and interstate travel restricted, many people have remained home and focused on their lifestyle choices. Our agents identified the shift in market conditions and worked closely with their clients to take advantage of these unprecedented January sales opportunities.”
While holiday markets traditionally perform well in our regional areas, Brian Whiteman has not witnessed this type of activity previously in a January market on the Central Coast of NSW. The demand is so high Brian Whiteman and his team are averaging four to five listing presentations a day and are selling a property nearly every day.
“We are continuing to see an extraordinary influx of people migrating to the Central Coast from Sydney and other areas. At least 78 per cent of all sales are to people who live out of the area and we have witnessed about a 10 per cent increase in prices,” Brian Whiteman says. “The trend towards working from home has definitely played a role in this market shift and the NorthConnex has changed people’s perceptions of the drive, people can move between Sydney and the Central Coast without congestion and in just over an hour.”
During January 2021 Brian Whiteman and his team have broken three suburb records. At an astounding $700,000 above the previous record 38 Lake Street, North Avoca sold for $3.1 million; 31C Trelawney Street, Killarney Vale, sold for $1.785 million at $350,000 above the previous record; and 16 Carol Anne Close, Tumbi Umbi sold for $1.175 million, breaking Brian Whiteman’s previous record by $25,000.
With results like these Brian Whiteman has easily earned his ranking in the Top Ten NSW Finalists for the 2020 Annual REA Excellence Awards and as a finalist in Rate My Agent’s NSW Agent Nominees in their Agent of the Year Awards 2021. Brian Whiteman puts his success down to the support of his team, “it is about the strength of my team, we work as one for our clients”.
Throughout 2020 the apartment market saw a decline, but in January 2021 we have seen this trend shift. Brad Gillespie and his team focus on the inner city areas of Alexandria, Zetland, Waterloo, Redfern, Erskineville and Beaconsfield and they have seen demand skyrocket for both apartments and homes in these core areas.
“I have honestly never seen anything like it, we are averaging about 70 people at each open home, there are queues down the street. This market activity is great for sellers,” Brad Gillespie explains. “Normally we would start campaigns after Australia Day, this year we started campaigns on the 9th of January, a whole month early.
“Ultimately I made the decision to take advantage of the market conditions for my clients, the market ended so strongly last year I knew this would roll into 2021 and I saw an opportunity to take advantage of the lower stock levels in January. This decision paid off, prices are back up to the peak levels of 2017 with the record-low interest rates contributing to this rise in prices.”
In Brad Gillespie’s view the driver for this strong market demand is the fact buyers have entered the market all at once after having put off their property goals for nine months of last year. With people remaining local they have been able to re-focus on their property plans, be it upsizing or downsizing. Across Brad Gillespie’s ten January sales, totalling over $12 million, he met with close to 1,500 buyers, released 113 contracts and fielded more than 1,500 web enquiries.
The restriction of interstate and international travel has had a huge impact on the eastern suburbs property market within Sydney. Ben Collier and his team sold $46.55 million worth of property across five sales in January this year. According to Ben Collier he is seeing demand across the board, and while the expatriate demand is still present, it pales in comparison to the local demand for property.
“The property demand we are seeing in the eastern suburbs of Sydney is predominantly from owner occupiers, the local demand has been enormous. For a market that is traditionally quiet over the holidays it has remained extremely strong due to the fact people have remained local,” Ben Collier says. “The sales we have achieved in January have been a combination of off-market sales, properties that failed to sell prior to Christmas and properties that weren’t set to launch until February – demand was so high from our database they sold prior to campaign launch.”