Time to sell ‘difficult’ Sydney properties
Now is the time for investors to sell their properties which don’t tick all the boxes and may traditionally sit on the market for extended periods, according to a national real estate firm.
Angus Raine, CEO of Raine & Horne, said the robust Sydney market presented opportunities for investors to sell their properties which would be difficult to shift in softer conditions – but that this opportunity wouldn’t last forever.
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“Every property has features that will appeal to buyers, however some houses and apartments may tick fewer boxes based on size, style and location,” he said.
“It might be an apartment with no parking or balcony, a third-floor unit in a walk-up building, a tiny bedsit, or a house located on a main road or across from a railway line.”
Mr Raine said in softer markets, properties with these issues take longer to sell, but current conditions mean they are often selling weeks faster.
“However this situation won’t last forever, and with talk that interest rates are set to rise sometime in 2015, it’s time for owners to make a move.”
The real estate group cited suburbs in Sydney’s inner west, such as Summer Hill, as examples of this trend.
“Properties that took three months to sell last year are being snapped up in the current market,” said Gabriela Rodriguez, principal of Raine & Horne Summer Hill.
“I’ve sold properties on main roads, close to the railway line, that have no balconies or parking that would have been very hard to sell in softer markets. Indeed more vendors are recognising that the strength of the market now is a great opportunity for them to sell these properties.”
Despite the opportunities afforded by current market conditions, Ms Rodriguez urged investors to get their pricing right.
“Regardless of whether you’re selling a Summer Hill terrace of a Canterbury Road bedsit, the property won’t sell if you fail to get the pricing right,” she said.
Other examples of properties which usually sit on the market for a long time but are currently transacting quickly are apartments in Parramatta without parking or internal laundries and properties on the lower north shore with shortcomings, according to Raine & Horne.