The Sydney market remains challenging for sellers. One of the big questions you will have when putting your property on the market is the best selling strategy to use.
According to recent CoreLogic data, Sydney’s property turnover is the lowest it has been in any of the past nine years, due to a considerable fall in property sales. Compared to 6% a year earlier, only 4.8% of Sydney properties sold in the past twelve months.
There is no shortage of homes for sale. The driver behind the drop in turnover is affordability and reduced credit, as banks tighten their lending criteria.
However, if you need or want to sell, don’t lose hope. Location is everything. Whatever the wider market is doing, there will always be buyers for inner-city Sydney apartments. Given the challenging market conditions, it’s worth thinking carefully about how to market your property for a successful sale at a good price.
Your selling agent will discuss your options with you in detail, however here are some of the pros and cons of selling your Sydney apartment at auction versus private treaty.
Selling at auction
One benefit of an auction is that your agent is able to help steer the price upwards to achieve your desired selling price. When you price the property correctly, it will sell. This can offer peace of mind if you are looking for a swift and unconditional sale on the day of your auction or shortly afterwards.
Another benefit of auctions is some buyers may choose to make a pre-auction offer. If this happens, keep an open mind and weigh up the benefits of an offer ‘in the bag’ .
Setting a reserve means you are assured that the property will not sell for less than you want. If the property is passed in when the hammer falls, you are likely to have one or more bidders. Your agent can begin negotiating with them immediately.
The cons include the fact that in a slower market, there are fewer buyers competing for a property. This may mean your Sydney apartment doesn’t sell on the day, particularly as buyers are finding it harder to obtain finance and may not be able to have their loan in place.
At the moment, around half of homes listed are selling at auction in Sydney. You need to factor this into your plans and talk to your agent about how to improve the likelihood of ending the day with a sale.
The benefits of private treaty sales
A private treaty sale can be less stressful than an auction, where everything hinges on a single day. This can often be a better choice in a less heated market.
Here, instead of setting a date for the sale, the marketing campaign proceeds with your real estate agent negotiating with buyers individually. There’s no set end date, and your agent is likely to set a price that allows for some negotiation based on current market conditions and recent sales prices of equivalent properties.
At Boutique Property Agents, our familiarity with the inner Sydney market means we have a good idea of what the property will go for. We can explain this to you in detail.
Another advantage of a private treaty sale is that buyers don’t need to have cash ready on the day. This gives you more room to be flexible with your buyers, and a greater pool of property hunters to choose from.
The downsides of a private treaty sale include the fact that there is no set end date and you don’t know how long it will take your property to sell. In a slower market, the guide price becomes the ceiling and buyers may try and make low-ball offers. However with great presentation, and a realistic sales price based on recent data, this can be avoided.
Talk to us
Boutique Property Agents are the inner-city specialists and we take on a limited number of clients at any one time so we can give you our absolute attention. We have a long track record of successful results in our area and can share with you all of our up-to-the-minute market insights and expertise when formulating a sales strategy that will work. Call us today if you are considering selling your Sydney apartment.
