Demand for Affordable Real Estate on the Rise
The demand for budget residential real estate is soaring. The rapid increase is even prompting buyers to pay more than the advertised price on the websites. Additionally, real estate agencies have reported that sales for the middle- to the lower-end of the market have doubled in the last few weeks.
Auctions have also seen the buzz of activities as more buyers clamor for cheaper real estate. In an auction in Parramatta two weeks, a fight erupted as 19 bidders vied for a $550,000 property. Melbourne’s clearance rate of auctions is now averaging more than 80 percent for the last three months.
Real estate agencies, on the other hand, have started to expand into Sydney’s mortgage belts and the western portion of Melbourne to take advantage of the demand.
The upswing in demand is attributed to the first-home buyer’s grant being relaxed in October. There have been more than 110,000 first-home buyer sales since the grant increase from $7000 to $14,000 in October last year. Additionally, speculations that interest rates will begin to increase by next month is fueling demand.
