Vendors hurry to sell before market cools in winter

Home sellers are rushing to offload their houses and apartments this week before an expected slowdown in the market.

‘It’s a good time to sell and it suited me’: Alex Collins in her Potts Point apartment, which goes to auction today. Picture: John Feder

Home sellers are rushing to offload their houses and apartments this week before an expected slowdown in the real estate market as winter and the Easter holiday break looms.

Vendors are hoping to cash in on growth rates of 19 per cent in Sydney and 16 per cent in Melbourne flagged this week by data house Core­Logic.

Residential agent James Led­ger­wood said a lot of people wanted to get their property on the market before the expected slowdown.

“They want to capitalise on the gains seen over the last 10 months, which have been exceptionally strong in Sydney,” said Mr Ledgerwood, who recently joined The Agency network.

“There have also been some except­ionally strong results on the Gold Coast in the prestige market, setting all-time records.”

In Sydney’s inner east, Alex Collins will auction her Potts Point apartment today through Lisa Kramer of Fine & Country.

Ms Collins said the exceptional price growth in Sydney over the past year was part of the motivation to sell her luxury two-bedroom Victoria Street apartment, which could fetch between $1.35 million and $1.4m.

“When you see positivity in the market, it does encourage you,” she said.

“People are quite strategic when they sell — my personal situation dictated this time, so it was lucky for me … it’s a good time to sell and it suited me.”

Kevin Fine, the managing direc­tor of the group’s Australian operations, said: “Most of our vendors­ are selling for particular reasons and, yes, they are selling because of the current (strong) market conditions.”

But he did not believe Sydney’s residential growth rate was sustainable — “by logic and by economics it can’t (be)”.

Marshall White director Adrian Wood said vendors were “defin­itely” wanting to sell their homes before the cooler weather set in. “This weekend is probably one of the bigger weekends prior to Easter,” he said. “Easter signifies the turning in the season, things are starting to get a bit colder.”

Mr Wood is the selling agent for a renovated heritage home at 374 Montague Street, Albert Park, in Melbourne’s inner south, which is set for auction next Saturday.

Price expectations for the three-bedroom, two-level home are at about $2m, with interest alread­y expressed at $2.5m. Mr Wood said strong premiums were common, particularly for high-calibre properties that let buyers move straight in without making any alterations.

“People will pay more for ease of entry,” he said, adding that the market was “as strong as I’ve seen in close to 20 years”.

Additional reporting: Ben Wilmot