Ninja In A Blazer - July 2024

Will we see rate drops this year?

Higher than expected inflation was recorded in the March quarter based on some volatile inflation inputs which prompted most to expect the RBA to delay rate cuts until 2025.

The weakening job market, with both unemployment and underemployment now increasing, the slowdown in job growth and job advertisements indicate the labour market is cooling.

Despite the perceived delay in rate cuts, buyers and sellers remain confident in current conditions

Renovating VS Upsizing / Upgrading

Once again, we have lately been asked by a lot of clients for advice if they should upsize or renovate and extend.  Many clients are finding it hard to upsize, they are finding if they have to make offers subject to sale, with almost no potential sellers considering these offers due to the number of other offers and the unknown of relying on a buyer to sell their property within a timeframe vs an offer with less strenuous conditions. If up-sizers can get bridging finance, it is still very competitive to secure their next home.

Here are some tips to consider

• If you are looking to upsize or upgrade by buying a bigger home, please consider the change-over cost which includes agents commission and marketing on the sale of your existing home, conveyancing cost on both the sale and the purchase, stamp duty on the new purchase as well as moving cost and some other incidentals.
• You should only consider renovating if you are happy with the current size and space of your home, renovating may not solve your needs long term (unless you are extending – lets cover that next)
• If you’re renovating to create more space, it is important to get multiple quotes as we have found the cost of doing an extension often proves selling and buying a bigger home is likely the most cost-effective result.
• Before you make the final decision we highly recommend that you get two quotes for the total cost of the required renovation (also to consider any extra cost if you are required to move out of the house during renovation) and put that total cost on top of the current value of your home (we can assist with property values) and look in the area to see if you are able to buy the desired solution/property with a lower mortgage the end result.

To build or not to build?

In 2023 we noticed a decline in land sales.  The interest in land diminished as the build costs increased.  However, in 2024 the buyers looking to build realised to get the product they wanted, they’d have to bite the bullet and buy the land with build costs unlikely to come down significantly and more and more requirements on new builds increasing the build costs further.  This doesn’t mean that land has flown off the shelf, but buyers have started purchasing land again especially with the shortage of vacant land close to popular amenities.

Our advice to our clients that approach us to discuss the thought of building (we just had 4 clients reach out to us just in the past few weeks about this) our advice to our clients is that they should consider to build if they are specially wanting a brand new home that they can choose exactly how they want it and if they are planning to stay in for a longer period of time, as the market will eventually catch up.

As always please do not hesitate to reach out to us for any advice, market update or valuation of your current home or investment