Property market continues positive push

Final siren of the AFL grand final means it’s time for the spring sales season to really kick off

FOOTY fever has been cured, bees are buzzing in the blossom and the daylight lasts longer.

Spring has sprung yet Ballarat’s real estate gurus confess it is difficult to pin down the reason for the seasonal sales phenomenon.

While the consensus from some of the city’s leading agents is the Ballarat market is looking good, the perception that spring is the best time to sell, rather than reality, seems to be a common thread.

From the perspective of Peter Ludbrook, a Director at Harcourts Ballarat, he doesn’t see any uplift in prices due to spring, more it’s a supply issue.

“The market regulates itself, while the gardens look great and hibernation has worn off, it becomes a supply and demand issue,” Mr Ludbrook said. “There is more supply in spring because vendors wait for the weather, because there’s more activity people tend to think the results are better.”

Phillip Lee, Director at Ray White Ballarat, agrees that “buyers don’t wait till spring to buy, it’s the vendors who wait till spring to sell.”

He considers timing could be a more appropriate driver as people relocating in or out of Ballarat look at the school year and a 90-day settlement period which makes spring the ideal time to purchase.

Sport also plays into the spring sales boom.

People don’t want to start their campaign and have to contend with the disruption around the football finals when there is very little activity said Tim Valpied, Director at hockingstuart Ballarat.

“Afterall there are three weekends affected by finals if you include Central Highlands and the Ballarat Leagues as well as the AFL Grand Final,” Mr Valpied said.

“The market is in a great place at the moment. There is good buyer activity, there are good numbers attending open for inspections and the sales are still very strong.”

Mr Ludbrook also considers the mood of the market as quite positive, although he points out that Ballarat didn’t see the decreases seen in sections of the Melbourne market.

“What we did see was a drop in the number of properties available for sale,” he said. “The Melbourne market has turned and we are on an upward cycle again.”

REIV statistics show the median prices, up to June 30 in Melbourne auction clearance rates have been strongly increasing.

Ballarat median prices increased 1.3 per cent in the June quarter and over the 12 months to 30 June property prices in the region went up 10.8 per cent.

Part of that is because there’s a lack of property on the market at the moment and there are plenty of buyers, Mr Lee from Ray White said.

“The market is very strong in Ballarat,” he said.

Central Ballarat is still seen as the fastest moving area within the city, however, the central market is now defined differently to what it was 10 years ago.

Indicators point to Ballarat East, Golden Point and Mount Pleasant as now being considered central suburbs. In the last 12 months Golden Point median price rose by 32 per cent, while Mt Pleasant went up by 28.3 per cent.

“As the CBD itself becomes more expensive there is no doubt that people looking for period style homes are also looking in Golden Point and Mount Pleasant,” Mr Valpied said.

As Mr Ludbrook puts it, “Areas within a couple of kilometres from the middle of Sturt Street are now considered central.”

The experts agree the Ballarat rental market is also experiencing strong demands with vacancy rates continuing to be at or close to historical lows. That has in turn created a strong uplift on rental prices.

The current vacancy rate is still low according to REIV figures, Mr Lee said.

“In August Ballarat experienced vacancy rates of 1.6 per cent having started the year with a rate as low as 0.7 per cent,” he said. “REIV consider a balanced rental market, fair to both landlords and tenants, should sit at three per cent.”

Mr Ludbrook added, “I don’t see that changing in the new future.”

“We are seeing an increase in the length of a lease, we are now regularly seeing two and three year leases being signed for rental properties.”