“The areas like Richmond-Tweed, the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven, and the Sunshine Coast where we’ve seen sharp quarterly declines, are coming off the back of very strong upswings – upwards of 40 per cent in most cases,” she said.
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“This is just a correction that reflects the extremes in what we’ve seen in the interest rate.”
The price falls in northern NSW had been compounded by extreme weather this year, she said.
Although the price falls might seem like a relief to locals, they came at the cost of higher mortgage rates, and the outlook for regional property prices would depend on how high interest rates rise.
In Byron Bay, Fuller & Co director Scot Fuller said the market had a slower period mid-year as buyers adjusted to rising interest rates, and some holidaymakers chose to visit Europe this winter now international borders have opened.
He has “definitely seen a pullback in prices” after the extraordinary rises in the COVID-19 period of 5 per cent to 15 per cent depending on the location, but said conditions are starting to recover and stabilise even as buyers have more choice.
“It is good to have got some stock under your belt to show buyers,” he said.
“They’re having time to think about the property they want to purchase.”
Further north, Tom Offermann, of the eponymous Noosa real estate agency, highlighted a two-speed market.
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“We are still breaking new ground in price at the premium end of the market,” he said.
“There is quite a backlog of buyers that intend to own property here.”
But some of the non-prestige homes have had negotiations of up to 10 per cent on price, he said.
“Quite a bit of the heat has gone out of the market, the urgency of buyers. There are less people at auctions, and property is still selling.”
There are very few homes for sale and still a lot of people moving from interstate, although some of the holidaymakers who spent the last couple of winters in Noosa did travel to Europe this year, he said.
This $27 million residence smashed the Noosa house price record.
Noosa’s price record was smashed last week when a $27 million Noosa Heads waterfront property settled to Victorian-based buyers.
Offermann expects a flattening of the market for six or 12 months, but a steady uplift in value over time.
“There is a lot of wealth in this country that has been created through the last 10 years,” he said.
“The next six to 12 months will be a buying opportunity for those who felt they missed the boat. They are not going to be buying at a huge discount, but they will have less competition.”
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