Hi everyone,
Just a quick question out of curiousity… What tends to happen to house prices (new and existing) before and after Christmas? Does their tend to be a quiet period for buyers or sellers before or after Christmas and New Years? Are sellers more reasonable around Christmas?
I only ask before i’m still looking for my first property at the moment and i’m thinking about the best times to buy.
Thanks
Paul[suave2]This is totally a guess as I have never bought/sold a house at xmas. I suspect that everyone is too busy getting ready for the big day and/or holiday trips, so there probably aren’t a lot of buyers or sellers around. If there are sellers, they are mayber either desperate to sell or just leaving the property on the market to see what happens. Maybe it’s a good time to go shopping!
Having said that, I live in a holiday destination (Mornington Peninsula) south of Melb, and over the new year break a lot of people are trying to sell as there are a lot of people on holidays and they go house hunting for something to do. It could then depend on where you are looking.Cheers,
Marc.
[email protected]Hi Paul,
All I would say is just do it.
I could give you 10 reasons to buy this summer.
I could also give you 10 reasons NOT to buy this summer.At the end of the day, it’s really just speculation.
Be bold, be brave, be ballsy n go for gold son [cap]
I bet you could find some good deals anytime of the year.All the best mate [biggrin]
make a list of what you expect from property and the day/time you find it, is the right time to buy. Rest is all speculations.
Regards,
There is usually a “quieter” period around the Christmas/new year week. Less properties are put on the market and although the active investors are still eager, home owners tend to cool off a little bit as do open inspections etc.
It is more of a breather and house prices don’t tend to drop, it picks up again shortly after new year.
In a nutshell, keep looking and doing what you are doing there is nothing out of the ordinary that is going to happen [biggrin]
Investment Property Management
http://www.adprop.com.auperhaps some motivation around feb/march with the credit binge hang over that comes after the holidays
http://www.cashflowproperties.co.nz
Don Nicolussi | Mortgage Broker - Home Loan Warehouse
http://homeloanwarehouse.com.au
Email Me | Phone Me"I think of finance as a technology, a way of getting things done." Robert Shiller
I think just before Christmas is a great time to put out offers. There are people who just want to start the new year fresh, so do the research – and I don’t just mean knowing the area inside out.
Find out how long the place has been on the market, has it gone to auction, if so what price did it get passed in at, what’s the vendor’s situation (how much does he/she want to sell, and why?). Know EVERYTHING you can about the place so that you can make an offer with confidence. And tailor it to suit the vendor – do they want a quick sale? Then make it a short settlement period. Do they want to stay on and rent it back for a while? Then let them.
If you want a building inspection, get it organised to be done during the cooling off period. And make sure your finances are well in order – I know many people will say “always make your offer subject to finance”, but I disagreee. If you know you can get the money and you know it’s a good deal, why put this unnecessary hurdle in the way of your offer being accepted?
And when you put in that offer, back it up with evidence. The agent can use this to persuade the vendor to sell. For example, find some other properties in the area, and sale prices (RP Data is the place to go for this), find out what rent you can achieve – what kind of return can you expect? What work needs to be done? Get some quotes to back up the immediate costs you’ll be up for.
The more you can show that the figure you’ve come up with is based on sound research (and not just plucked from the sky) the better the agent can work for you in getting the vendor to accept.
There is no replacement for solid research, so once you’ve chosen your area stay focussed on it to the point where you can look at any house and put a dollar value on it. Then, when that great opportunity comes up, you’ll recognise it immediately, act quickly, and hopefully come up trumps.
Oh – and always leave a little room to go up with your offer. And DON’T EVER go higher than your top price.
all the best,
CarlinYes, we purchased a property on Xmas eve last year at a significant discount. The property had been listed for some time and had already had a contract fall over so the vendour just wanted it sold. He told the agent that he just wanted to sit down to Xmas lunch to celebrate and enjoy the day, and not have to worry about the unknown.
On the other hand we sold a property in November with a short settlement for full list price because the young couple wanted to be in their new home for Xmas.
Who knows ??
Amanda
“It is better to be inconspicuously wealthy, than to be ostentatiously poor…”Just a thought on this one from regional investment perspective.
I live in a remote regional town. Having watched and dabbled here for a year or two now, I would say that there is a definite buyers advantage Dec to end of Feb each year.
The logic here is that people coming into town in the new year are unlikely to know the area and will therefore rent for 3-6 months before buying a house. So there are less buyers in the market.
THose leaving town, are often going back to a large coastal city or their home town area and therefore know where they want to buy and would prefer to do it straight away.
Throw in the complexity of starting kids in a new school and the possibility of managing the rental of your unsold home from a large distance.
To me it all adds up to seller committment and a good chance of getting significant discounts off asking price if you help the vendor with their time constraints.
I guess it depends very much on the characteristics of the area you are targeting.
cheers
Rav
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