Hobart suburbs proving red hot as properties sell in a just a handful of days

INSATIABLE demand for homes in three Hobart suburbs has seen the number of days it takes to sell a house dip into single digits.

Homeowner Robert Pullen in front of his Derwent Park house which sold so quickly it didn’t even make it to realestate.com.au with three competing buyers and another who didn't even get a look in. Picture: ROGER LOVELL

FOR homeowner Robert Pullen, selling his Derwent Park house was as fast as Usain Bolt.

Shortly after the marketing photos had been taken but before the property was listed online, it was already sold.

And he could have sold the Lampton Ave house four times over with multiple people interested in the property.

Mr Pullen said he could not have asked for a better result with his agent showing the property to ready-to-go buyers who all made offers above what he would have been happy to achieve.

“It was sensational,” he said.

“It was a real relief to sell that quickly, really great news for me and no stress whatsoever.”

Mr Pullen bought the property a few years ago and he jokes that he only did so “for the garage”.

“Mine had fallen down so I bought the house next door for the garage,” he said.

“The new owner lives interstate and he has rented the garage back to me for only $25 a week for the next couple of years — another great result.”

Mr Pullen’s house sale is just one example of the extreme pace that some Hobart suburbs are moving at in 2016.

The latest CoreLogic RPData Market Trends figures reveal three suburbs are currently sitting in single digits for the average amount of time it takes to sell a house: Derwent Park (six days), Mount Nelson (seven days), and Rose Bay (nine days).

When a Derwent Park house hits the market buyers need to be quick as it will be sold in just days. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

Throughout this year, North Hobart and Battery Point have been among the fastest selling suburbs but neither has come close to single-digit days on market figures.

REIT statistics put Greater Hobart’s current days on market at 29, Launceston 57 and the North-West Coast at 90 days.

‘I expect demand for Hobart housing will continue to be insatiable for the foreseeable future.’ – property marketing consultant Ben Palmer

Nest Property property marketing consultant Ben Palmer said areas such as Derwent Park, Goodwood, Moonah, Glenorchy, Warrane, Mornington and Kingston were “hot spots for investors”.

He said the key to the demand was the purchase price, excellent rental returns and proximity to the CBD.

“I have sold quite a few tenanted investment properties in these suburbs and currently have a list of over 15 buyers looking for investment homes around the $220,000 to $290,000 mark,” he said.

Mr Palmer said with Mr Pullen’s property, he didn’t even have time to hammer a for sale sign into the front yard.

“We had a happy vendor and happy purchaser – what more could an agent want?” he said.

“I expect demand for Hobart housing will continue to be insatiable for the foreseeable future.”

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Tony Collidge said Tasmania’s dire shortage of listings had not yet turned a corner.

Compared to the shortage midyear, if anything it has “gotten worse”, he said.

Although Derwent Park’s average sale time figures are lightning quick, it is only a small number of sales — 12 in the past 12 months.

However, in Mount Nelson there have been 47 sales and 22 in Rose Bay over the same period.

Derwent Park’s median house price of $250,050 has been trending upwards by 9.1 per cent over the past year and up by 4.4 per cent over the past three months.

Rose Bay’s median is also growing having shifted up 11.7 per cent over the past 12 months and up 3.5 per cent over the past three months. Its median house price is now $491,500.

In Mount Nelson the story is different with the median shifting backwards over the past 12 months by about 7 per cent to $470,000.

Originally published as Hobart suburbs proving red hot as properties sell in a just a handful of days