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An experienced agent based in Sydney’s Barangaroo has shed light on current conditions playing out in the local market.
Speaking on an episode of The Smart Property Investment Show — produced by REB’s sister brand, Smart Property Investment — Alex Lumsden of Lumsden Agency shared the market opportunities and challenges he’s seeing in Sydney’s inner city ring and how that impacts him as an agent operating in the space.
“I think everybody right now is very uncertain, and I think uncertainty is not good for the property market. Whether it’s going up or down, doesn’t really matter as much, as long as people know where it’s going,” Mr Lumsden said.
“Right now there’s a lot of prices that are holding steady, even though we’ve seen clearance rates dip a little bit in the last few weeks, prices around these areas seem to be holding steady, especially with houses. They seem to be holding their value quite well.
“There’s really no indicators to say they should. Every time there’s uncertainty like this and economic trouble, it often drops, but we haven’t seen that yet. September will be telling, I think. We’ll see what happens, how the government handles the [fears associated with the pandemic]... I think the management of all that will determine what the market does.”
Host Phil Tarrant asked Mr Lumsden about where uncertainty — or “jitters” — were coming from, pointing out that a lot of educated investors are capitalising on the uncertainty to get in to the market or to find good bargain properties.
“You’re exactly right,” Mr Lumsden said in response. “I mean every buyer’s agent that I speak to is run flat out, they’re buying, people are buying.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty from a lot of buyers, but like you said, the really educated ones that know what they’re doing are jumping in, a lot of them. Mitigate your risk, obviously.
“The most uncertainty I’m seeing from people is from vendors not wanting to put their property on the market right now, just waiting to see what happens, unless they really have to, which is probably not a bad idea.
“I know that you won’t often hear a selling agent say that you should hold your property, but yeah. Look, I think that for people who have a $2 million or $3 million asset, if they’re really uncertain and they’re not comfortable, then you shouldn’t move right now.”
This “wait and see” approach is likely going to continue for some time yet, according to Mr Lumsden.
“What we’re seeing more is people not wanting to go to market at all. That’s definitely what I’m saying. People really wanting to just wait and see,” he said.
“I think there’s fears of a drop and not enough for people to put their property on the market straight away. I mean, obviously, there is stuff on the market and there are people selling, whether it’s the right thing, who knows. Right now it seems to be.
“For the last few months, we’ve seen prices hold steady. I’m curious to see whether it’s people who already had pre-approvals and who already had access to money that just really wanted to buy, and whether we’re starting to see the end of that now and what will happen.
“I’m also curious to see if there’s a lot of small businesses that are struggling, whose owners have their property up as security, that could also be a big factor as we move forward out of this.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma Ryan
Emma Ryan is the deputy head of editorial at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, and has since been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia, including across the legal, mortgages, real estate and wealth industries. In addition, Emma has launched several additional sub-brands and events, driven by a passion to deliver quality and timely content to audiences through multiple platforms.
Email Emma on: Emma.Ryan@momentummedia.
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