As I am sure many of you are doing, I am keeping an avid eye on the real estate market, both at home and internationally. It's kind of hard not to when we are being bombarded with conflicting reports from the papers about how dire or how well the industry and those in it are coping. But despite the turbulence in our own market, I have to say that generally Australia's real estate bubble hasn't yet burst. One of the major reasons cited for this amongst property analysts is that during the boom here, we didn't build as many properties as markets elsewhere. For this reason alone it is expected that Australia won't see the huge price declines that other countries are experiencing. Even if the market may be a little more deflated than at the beginning of last year, we are certainly not in as bad a position as elsewhere and I believe we can definitely still be considered the lucky country.
When it comes to the real estate market and we think about those who have been hit the hardest, the United States springs to mind immediately for most of us. Some states of the US appear to be suffering more than others, one of which is California where home foreclosures rose to over 236,000 by the end of last year – this type of crisis is almost inconceivable for most of us living in Australia.
Although almost everyone in the industry has a differing opinion on what the real estate market will do next, (actually even those not in the industry seem to be predicting the future!) I have found that one of the most interesting things about the impact the economic downturn is having, is that it's not been predictable at all. Within Sydney for example, we are finding some suburbs are booming whereas others have slowed down significantly. Rules definitely cannot be applied across the board, but the current market certainly presents opportunities and Century 21 is working to make the current climate a positive one for all of our clients. We are seeing many buyers and investors make their way back in the market, and with rental yields continuing to increase and vacancies continuing to decrease, property is still a smart move.