'BULL OR BEAR'PROPERTY MARKET 2009
AS PRICES in Sydney's prestige suburbs spiral down, a question prevails: will 2009 be a bear year or have the prices dropped enough to prompt a bull run?
Australian Property Monitors economists are predicting further falls of up to 14 per cent in areas such as Bondi, Mosman and Palm Beach, which come on top of steep declines last year.
Preliminary figures from APM confirm the median house price in Palm Beach fell from $2,512,500 in the year to December 2007, to $2 million in December 2008 - a 20.4 per cent drop. Mosman dropped from a median of $1.2 million to $865,000 - a fall of 27.9 per cent.
The optimists and pessimists are locking horns over the Sydney housing market's future, with bears forecasting more price falls and bulls arguing such doom and gloom will only depress the market further.
Even real-estate agents admit prices have declined steeply in premium suburbs.
Prices in wealth belt suburbs such as Palm Beach were off by 35 per cent in December as players in the financial markets were hit by the credit crunch, forcing them to sell holiday homes.
Mosman's best homes had already fallen in price "at least 20 per cent" through last year. There will be more price slides for the top-end suburbs that rose strongly during the past four years.
Sydney will have nominal price falls of 10 per cent but it will depend on where you live because some suburbs will have price increases - mostly those that are the cheapest relative to other stock.
Outer suburbs in the west and south-west - where prices are less than $360,000 - are poised for strong growth, especially property close to trains, schools and shops.
Conditions are ripe for great home-buying opportunities in the year ahead. Lower house prices than in previous years, falling interest rates and lower petrol prices will boost home affordability.
Source: smh.com.au
