Hi, my name is Greg Vincent and welcome to this week’s Acreage Market Wrap where I share an insight into How’s The Acreage Market?

In this episode I’ll be sharing the number one thing that you absolutely must do if you’re thinking of selling your acreage property this Spring.

But, before I tell you about that, I’d like to cover off on a couple of other important things that have happened this week.

Firstly, the Herron Todd White Report for August came out this week, and it was interesting to see on the property clock that the Sydney market had moved from last month’s 1.30 spot on the clock (which is the Starting to Decline position) and it has moved to the Declining Market 3 o’clock position.

Now at first glance, this may sound like more bad news for the acreage sector, but actually it’s not. In fact, when you take a closer look at the property clock, you’ll see that the opposite is actually happening to acreage lifestyle property with the Southern Highlands firmly position at the 7 o’clock position which is the Start of Recovery phase.

This is why it’s important not to get too caught up with the negative media reports and updates about Sydney’s auction clearance rates when looking at trying to understand what’s happening to the acreage market, especially when you see that coastal lifestyle areas like the Central Coast and Coffs Harbour have now moved up to the 9 o’clock Rising Market position on the property clock. Buyers looking in these areas are often looking to escape the city.

...and as property expert, John McGrath said earlier this week,

“Working from home is becoming an accepted option for many workers as we continue life with COVID-19.

This is prompting many city dwellers to consider relocating to leafier, more affordable suburban areas of their capital city or regional areas where they can enjoy a better lifestyle.

The great news is the buying power of homeowners in inner city areas is much greater in the middle to outer suburbs and especially strong in popular seachange and treechange regional areas.”

...and as further lockdowns are imposed and Social Distancing becomes the new norm, there will be even more Sydneysiders ‘heading for the hills’ to escape the confinement of city life, which means that right now is a perfect time to ride the upward trend and invest in acreage.

Something else that’s been positive after all this recent rainfall is that all the dams are nice and full for all the farmers across the region, and Warragamba Dam is now at 99.3% capacity.

Recently the government announced that they’re now looking at raising the dam wall by 17 metres instead of the original 14 metres proposed for flood mitigation.

While we’re still waiting for the Environmental Impact Statement to be released and for the cabinet to approve the design & construction, the potential downstream impacts to the Hawkesbury & Nepean Valley if we get another deluge of rainfall could mean significant flooding across the local region.

Yet, even with Warragamba Dam sitting at close to 100% capacity, according to Sydney Water we are still under Level 1 Water Restrictions which is absolutely absurd. In fact the NSW Government should actually be encouraging us to use more water, because they’re only going to have to open the flood gates and have megalitres of water pouring out over the spillway, which will cause localised flooding and see the water go to complete waste as it ends up running out into the ocean.

They should lift the restrictions immediately and be doing an advertising campaign encouraging people to enjoy longer showers or have a soak in the bathtub, use the full flush on the toilets instead of half flushing, hose down pathways & essentially encourage consumers to waste water until the dam level drops back down to around 80 per cent, but, unfortunately I don’t think any politician will have the common sense or the guts to do it. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if they actually do anything at all.

Now here’s my big tip for you this week. It’s the number one thing that you absolutely must do if you’re thinking of selling your acreage property this Spring

...and that is ‘book the stylist now’.

You see, I’ve spoken with a number of property stylists this week and some of them are now completely booked out weeks in advance and if you don’t book them in advance, then it will have a domino effect and can hold back the professional photo-shoot which could delay the launch of your property online.

If your place doesn’t need property styling then this won’t be an issue, but if your place needs some sprucing up to help attract more buyers, then you’re best to contact a property stylist sooner rather than waiting.

If you need the details of a couple of local property stylists that I’ve worked with recently and simply can’t recommend highly enough, then simply get in contact with me and I’ll send you their information.

If you’re worried that your place is a bit messy and needs too much work before getting it ready to sell, but you’d like to take advantage of the current market and get moving this Spring, then starting off with our ‘Off-Market’ Acres strategy might be a really good option for you to consider.

If you’d like some more information about how selling your acreage ‘Off-Market’ works, simply visit www.offmarketacres.com.au

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 378 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 207 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 118 throughout The Hills district and another 53 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.
There were 13 new acreage listings come onto the market this week. There were only 8 acreage properties Sold this week but a really positive sign is that there are 19 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field this week, we’ve already had over 30 groups through the home at 40 Pitt Street in Richmond with several interested parties looking to downsize from nearby acres. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for something a bit special.

Also this week there was a lot of activity happening in Windsor Downs with 45 Archer Lane selling for $1.8m, both 22 Kimberley Lane and 26 Wavehill Avenue going ‘Under Contract’ as well as the equestrian property at 201 Willeroo Drive set to come onto the market with some information about the property having been emailed out to my acreage database yesterday plus I recorded a walkthrough video which was featured on Facebook on Thursday afternoon.

I have several ‘Off-Market’ Acres listings coming up over the next few weeks.

If you’re looking to buy acreage and want early access to any of my ‘off-market’ listing, make sure to check out... www.offmarketacres.com.au

So, that’s it for this week’s Acreage Market Wrap.

If you’ve got any questions about anything I’ve shared this week or would like to discuss any of your acreage plans with me, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for watching, stay safe and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent