When is the best time of the year to buy property?

There are traditionally certain times of the year when property open for inspections are teeming with buyers, when everyone seems to be in a positive buying mood, and securing your ideal property at a reasonable price seems totally out of reach.

Early spring is one of these times, when buyers seem to come out of winter hibernation, and properties flood with natural light, and gardens come into bloom.

Another very popular time to buy property is early in the New Year, around February/March. Buyers have had a refreshing break, and are in a positive mood. They have had time to decide on their next goals, and they launch into them with new energy. This time is also particularly popular for properties in the beachside suburbs, as buyers would have likely spent some time at the beach over the summer, and owning a property within proximity of water at this time is never more appealing.

Without doubt, one of the best times of the year to buy is when there seems to be a waning interest in buying property.

Late November, and into December is definitely one of these times.

Buyers focus tends to move away from planning property inspections, towards planning Christmas gatherings and holidays instead. Buyers schedules get much busier, with many workplaces getting very busy, social calendars are very full, there are endless end of year/Christmas parties to attend.

Jaded buyers would much rather spend any free time they had left in the week relaxing near a pool or at the beach, than rushing around on a Saturday morning in heavy pre-Christmas traffic, going from one property inspection to the next.

On the other hand, there are many motivated vendors, keen to sell before the holidays, or who may have already committed elsewhere in the spring buying season, and are stretching themselves with 2 mortgages. They may have had high and unrealistic expectations earlier in spring, but have been brought back to reality, and are now very keen to consider any reasonable offer.

There are also hundreds of properties already signed up with selling agents, with the full auction campaign scheduled to start in February when all the buyers are back from holidays. These off-market opportunities also add to the mix at this time of the year. Vendors are often keen to consider a genuine offer pre-Christmas, without having to pay for all the expenses associated with a full advertising and auction campaign, and not having to deal with the whole stressful process of having hordes of strangers come through their place several times a week.

Less demand and increased supply is a property buyer’s best friend.

At the time of writing, there is also the added bonus of lots of negative media commentary. “New Low for Crumbling Auction market” is the headline of one article this weekend, yet when you read through, it contradicts itself by commenting on an auction in the inner west with 16 registered bidders, selling $200k above reserve. Being at this particular auction myself, those at the coalface know the real story of what is happening in the popular suburbs.

As is always the case, when markets soften, it is the less desirable suburbs that suffer, while the popular suburbs show great resilience. For example, this weekend (21^st November) there were 7 homes auctioned in the North Western suburb of Baulkham Hills. Not a single property sold! In stark contrast, suburbs such as Bondi, Clovelly and Maroubra had a total of 14 auctions. 13 of them sold, either under the hammer or before the scheduled auction.

The negative media is helpful if you are looking to buy, as this gets in the head of the ill-informed buyers, who are likely to get a little spooked by all the negativity, and adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach.

The well informed that take action, and those that acknowledge that they are busy, and leverage off the time, expertise and industry contacts of full time buying professionals, are securing great properties at great prices.

Of course, while there are cycles during each year, property is definitely a long term investment, and while the market ebbs and flows, well located and good quality property always performs well in the medium to long term.

So to use an old saying “When is the best time to buy property?”..........Answer: “10 years ago!”

“Ok, so when is the second best time to buy property?”………………….…..Answer: “Now!”

To find out more, contact us to speak to a Search Find Invest Buyers Agents