Central Coast real estate: Busiest local agents and their predictions for the market

With the first rate rise in a decade and a post-Covid election looming, what’s going to happen to the coast’s real estate market? Here’s the answer from those in the know.

With the first interest rate rise in more than a decade, a looming federal election and the Covid-induced property price frenzy coming off the boil, never before has there been so much conjecture over the fate of the coast’s property market.

But the market is far from going backwards, let alone nearing collapse, according to those in the know with plenty of opportunities for first home buyers, investors and those looking to sell.

We take a look at 10 of the coast’s busiest agents in the past three months — according to sales data from leading property website realestate.com.au — and get some of their predictions for what’s likely to happen to the local property market in the next few months.

Brian Whiteman has set up his own agency Whiteman Property.

BRIAN WHITEMAN — WHITEMAN PROPERTY — 35 PROPERTIES SOLD

The undisputed king of the Central Coast property market continues to dominate results no matter how they are measured.

Not bad for a bloke who was tossing up between retiring after spending 12 years running a motorcycle dealership in Bathurst or embarking on a new career in real estate in 2014.

Mr Whiteman has set or broken just about every record since including Rookie Agent of the Year in Australia in 2015 and was agent of the year twice running for the Central Coast on Rate my Agent in 2020-21.

After starting with McGrath and then The Agency, it was perhaps only a matter of time before Mr Whiteman has branched out on his own with Whiteman Property, which has started 2022 with a rocket selling 35 properties in the past three months.

He is expected to continue to set the benchmark for sales volumes on the coast.

VOLKAN AKINTETIK — STONE — 29 PROPERTIES SOLD

The former landscaper said he got tired of working on people’s properties and decided he’d have a go at selling them instead.

Mr Akintetik is a localised expert in Berkeley Vale where he is ranked number one on realestate.com.au and said the market is returning to pre-pandemic conditions.

“We’re back to normal, that’s all we are,” he said.

Mr Akintetik is with Stone, one of Australia’s fastest grown real estate brands, and said before Covid hit there were typically anywhere from 30-50 properties on the market at Berkeley Vale at any one time.

However during the pandemic he said that dropped to about eight properties.

He said people were seeing the results vendors were getting during the pandemic and thought they would get a better result once restrictions lifted and people could move around.

But in turn it has seen a lot more properties listed on the market.

ABDULLAH CHOUDHARI – STONE — 27 PROPERTIES SOLD

The principal of Stone real estate at Tumbi Umbi, Mr Choudhari is among a new generation of young, ambitious and passionate property professionals out to make their mark on the industry.

But don’t let his relative youth fool you, Mr Choudhari has a growing wealth of experience having started his real estate career in 2008.

Mr Choudhari cut his teeth at Wiseberry before being attracted to Stone’s philosophy of “creating bigger businesses with better people”.

Having sold 27 properties in the past three months and together with his colleague Volkan Akintetik’s 29 sales, Mr Choudhari is sure to make Stone a force to be reckoned with in 2022.

Andre Kubecka, of Brand Property, is one of the most prolific real estate agents on the coast.

ANDRE KUBECKA — BRAND PROPERTY — 25 PROPERTIES SOLD

The former computer science graduate left a successful career in corporate management to follow a lifelong passion for real estate in 2001.

It turned out to be a smart move for the savvy businessman who has carved a significant reputation for creating competition between buyers and extracting the best value for his clients.

Mr Kubecka has become one of the most recognised names in real estate in coast’s north where he has sold 25 properties in the past three months averaging almost one every four days.

RICHARD FAULKNER – GITTOES – 25 PROPERTIES SOLD

A stalwart performer for Gittoes over the past decade Mr Faulkner achieved a personal goal last year when he sold more than 100 properties in 12 months.

With 25 sales already under his belt for the past three months Mr Faulkner is already well on track to meet or exceed his results last year.

The father-of-four and former scuba diving instructor has an extensive local knowledge, which combined with his negotiation skills, has seen him ranked the number one agent in Gosford for the past five years.

KURT BRATBY – WISEBERRY – 22 PROPERTIES SOLD

Having been born, gone to school and grown up in the Gorokan area there would not be a street in the 2263 postcode Mr Bratby wouldn’t know.

In fact you could probably show him a picture of any house in Gorokan and he could probably tell you what street it’s in.

It is this level of local knowledge that has seen Mr Bratby routinely ranked one of the top agents on the coast since he joined Wiseberry 11 years ago as a 20-year-old.

When Mr Bratby started a benchmark three-bedroom property at Gorokan would have sold for about $250,000.

Today the benchmark for entry level homes at Gorokan, Toukley and Noraville is about $750,000- $800,000.

Mr Bratby said despite the commentary around interest rates the cash price was still “the second lowest in history” and demand for first homes would continue to insulate the coast’s property market.

He said there were still plenty of opportunities for homebuyers to create wealth.

MATT RAVENEAU —BRAND PROPERTY — 16 PROPERTIES SOLD

Former barman and pro shop manager Mr Raveneau has enjoyed a meteoric rise since becoming a licenced listing agent in April 2020.

But after 13 years in hospitality, Mr Raveneau said the interpersonal skills were transferable.

“It’s not really a real estate game, it’s a people game … it’s just a relationships game,” he said.

Under the mentorship of Brand Property principal and coast real estate stalwart Andre Kubecka, Mr Raveneau has sold 16 properties in the past three months and 47 in the past year.

Mr Raveneau said the high end of the coast’s property market including beachfront homes and multimillion dollar weekenders may fluctuate over the next few months but entry level properties should hold their value.

He said buyer’s “fear of missing out” or FOMO had abated and there was more stock on the market but interest rates were still at historic lows.

Mr Raveneau said another segment of the market that could influence prices over the next few months would be existing homeowners “looking to capitalise” on the past two years of unheralded price growth.

He said a number of younger families were selling high and moving north to bigger opportunities while empty nesters were downsizing to units and putting the difference “in the bank”.

ADRIAN CULPIN – MCGRATH TOUKLEY — 14 PROPERTIES SOLD

After starting an Eagle Boys franchise at Lake Haven in 1993 Mr Culpin was urged to move into real estate following a change in family circumstances and has never looked back.

But his 21 years in small business and customer service served him well in the transition and eight years later Mr Culpin has become one of the top performing agents in the northern half of the coast where he has become a partner at McGrath Estate Agents.

Mr Culpin said it was almost impossible to tell what was going to happen to the coast’s real estate market in the next few months with so many variables at play, including interest rates, the Opposition Leader’s “Help to Buy” election scheme and a reopening of Australia’s borders to immigrants post Covid to name a few.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“At the moment buyers are in a bit of a holding pattern, there’s a fear of over paying. But I tell people if you’re in it for the long term it doesn’t matter.”

Mr Culpin said the pandemic-induced real estate frenzy of the past two years had thrown everyone’s predictions out the window.

But instead of “all doom and gloom” he said the coast still represented good value compared with Sydney and a preferable lifestyle where people could balance a commute with working from home.

He said banks had already started lifting interest rates behind the scenes ahead of the Reserve Bank and despite rising cost of living pressures from fuel and food, interest rates remained low compared with historic levels.

MICHAEL MELVILLE — RAY WHITE LONG JETTY — 14 PROPERTIES SOLD

After 10 years in real estate in Sydney’s sprawling north west before joining Ray White Long Jetty five years ago, market factors always boil down to three fundamental drivers – “supply, demand and confidence” – according to Mr Melville.

Following two years of relatively low supply coupled with unprecedented demand and “no negativity” to impact buyer confidence, Mr Melville described the market as “absolutely crazy”.

However Mr Melville said supply had increased significantly post Covid-lockdown and while demand was still there, buyers were being a bit more cautious

He said the result had seen a noticeable drop in the number of multiple offers on properties from 95 per cent of listings to about 20 per cent in a manner of weeks.

Mr Melville said while agents had not dropped prices on properties in the past two years they had already seen a “correction” in the market as conditions returned to pre-pandemic levels.

And while prices may drop between five to 10 per cent, Mr Melville said sellers were still coming out “in front” having experienced growth rates of 30-40 per cent in the past two years.

Mr Melville said “confidence” would have the biggest impact on the market in the next few months.

DIANNE BULMER — MCGRATH TERRIGAL — 14 PROPERTIES SOLD

With a background in retirement home sales and nearly a decade in real estate Ms Bulmer can see what she describes as a “handbrake” coming.

She said leading into a federal election there was some “caution” among buyers which had seen a bit of a dip in the number of groups going through open homes in the past two-three weeks.

However once the election was over she expected “confidence to return”.

“This is normal, we’re seeing buyers who want to hang for a little while and once they see nothing has happened and people are still selling at the price after about three-four weeks the confidence returns.”

Ms Bulmer said a lot of Sydney buyers, who could sell their one or two-bedroom apartment in the city for over $1 million, were still eyeing off the coast where they could trade up to a house for the same money.

She said having met a lot of those buyers over the past 18 months, last year’s Covid lockdown was “the deal breaker” which had convinced them to sell up and move to the coast.

As a result Ms Bulmer said suburbs such as Kincumber, Green Point and Erina had experienced the biggest growth.