Last Saturday we saw a strong start to the year with eight open homes averaging 29 groups so buyers are definitely around and active. There was particular interest in 16/1-3 Fullerton Street, Woollahra with 53 buyers inspecting the apartment and another 12 groups through on Tuesday.

Alexander Phillips says, “The market is definitely back, and so are the buyers. We launched a parkside home at 23 Market Street, Randwick on Wednesday and within 24 hours we’d received over 150 enquiries via the Domain and realestate.com portals. Normally, we’d receive between 80 to 100 enquiries over the entire four-week campaign so this really is a positive sign. January is usually when people have a bit more time up their sleeve and so it’s a perfect time to list.”

Our finance partner Shore Financial has confirmed last week’s report in the AFR that finance brokers have been flooded with enquiries and loan applications during the normally quiet holiday season. Charlie Loveridge from Shore Financial says, “There’s been a significant rise in the number of home loan applications we’re processing for clients. Personally, I’ve seen an increase of about 30% compared with January last year and we’re still only half way through the month.”

Charlie attributes three major factors for the influx in applications. Firstly, rates are low, secondly, borrowers have improved buying capacity following new assessment guidelines introduced by the APRA and, thirdly, the property market is on the move following a strong end to last year. Charlie explains, “The banks have relaxed the way they stress-test clients by reducing the rate buffer and, although they remain very vigilant and approvals are taking longer than historically, this has had a positive impact on borrowing capacity which is fuelling market momentum.”

We believe the first quarter of the year will be the strongest selling period in 2020; in fact this week we’ve listed 23 new properties with a fantastic range from affordable beachside studios to luxurious family homes.