Editorial: Relief for home buyers

WHAT goes up must come down — by as much as 30 per cent in some cases. In news that will surely ­delight those who have been trying to get a foot on the property ladder, house prices in many parts of Sydney are dropping, and are tipped to keep falling.

WHAT goes up must come down — by as much as 30 per cent in some cases.

In news that will surely ­delight those who have been trying to get a foot on the property ladder, house prices in many parts of Sydney are dropping, and are tipped to keep falling.

As The Saturday Telegraph reports today, over the three months to December the ­median home price fell by 1.3 per cent, and by another 2.5 per cent over the three months to March.

These are the biggest falls the market has seen since the height of the GFC 10 years ago.

At first glance it appears that, if sellers will charge whatever the market will bear, then the market is screaming “enough”.

But, as always, there is a catch.

House prices are falling as much as 30 per cent. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

Some of the biggest falls in price — in trendy inner-city Darlinghurst, sellers have been cutting an average of 30.6 per cent off their asking figures — are in suburbs where properties are the most expensive and there is the most fat to trim.

Following the lead of Darlinghurst sellers, those in blue-ribbon eastern suburbs such as Bellevue Hill and Vaucluse have been dropping prices by an average of 16 and 13 per cent respectively.

Up north, a four-bedroom duplex in the pricey beach suburb of Balgowlah is currently listed for $325,000 below its original asking price of $1.9 million.

And suburbs such as Sutherland and Alfords Point to the south of the city have also seen discounts of an average 15 per cent before slapping on the “sold” sticker.

This home in Palm Beach was listed for $2.8 million but was sold for $350,000 less at $2.45 million. Picture: Supplied

None of this should come as a surprise. Housing prices have seemed virtually meteoric in ­recent years, with governments, experts, and community leaders battling — often with each other — to find a solution.

But what appears to be happening now is that buyers are realising their power to ­demand sellers drop their unrealistic expectations and come to the negotiating table.

With wages not only not keeping up with house prices but in fact remaining stagnant, there had to be a point at which buyers would be unable to stretch themselves any further.

Which is another way of saying that, in the end, for all the calls for tinkering and intervention, it may well be the mechanism of the market that brings housing prices back to Earth.

The average kids are all right

GIRLS exercise more than boys, activities are more likely to be scheduled, and one in three of their parents are divorced.

These are just a few facts gleaned from ABS data by The Saturday Telegraph, giving us fascinating insights into what modern family life is really like. The analysis also found parents re-enter the workforce as their children age, with the average Australian child aged 5-11 having both parents in either full or part-time work.

No surprise kids’ lives are more scheduled than ever — even if, as one young man told us, they often just like “being outside and playing around” with mates.

Crackdown on dumpers

IT seems that not a week goes by without another report of asbestos waste dumped illegally in residential streets or vacant lots or, in one particularly shocking case, next door to a childcare centre by shonky builders.

But as The Saturday Telegraph reports, it’s no wonder. The penalties for improper disposal are, say local mayors who are left to clean up these messes, “laughably low” — just $4000 for individuals and $8000 for companies — and more needs to be done to crack down on the problem.

Asbestos has been dumped around Sydney and it is becoming a crisis. Picture: Bill Hearne

Among the solutions proposed are higher fines, naming and shaming of offenders, and greater powers for local councils.

There is also another culprit, experts say: cripplingly high ­environmental levies that can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of demolishing a standard three-bedroom fibro house, creating a powerful ­incentive for builders to do the wrong thing.

A combined carrot and stick approach of increased penalties and decreased fees will be needed to keep this potentially deadly problem from getting worse as Sydney goes through the greatest building boom in its history.

Originally published as Editorial: Relief for home buyers