Acreage Market Wrap - 18th July 2020

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?

This week, “State governments across the country have been dusting off plans and boosting decision-making frameworks to speed up the rollout of projects to keep people in work and restart the economy.

The NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet said “Now is the time for us to all work together to make decisions quickly and decisively to help create more opportunities for jobs and investment, right across the state,”

The NSW government has formed a new unit within the Department of Planning tasked with unblocking and fast-tracking state significant developments stuck in the system.

The new planning delivery unit (PDU) will act as a central point of escalation and acceleration for development projects alongside government agencies to streamline the state’s planning processes.

Planning minister Rob Stokes said the unit would now focus directly on resolving issues in major development applications so that decisions could move ahead faster.

The news follows a spate of announcements by the state government during recent months, which has seen upwards of 48 major projects having assessments finalised and fast-tracked.

The NSW government estimates that $13 billion in economic benefit will be injected into the economy through these rapid-fire construction initiatives, lifting the economy out of an expected coronavirus-triggered recession.

Policymakers explained that assessments under the acceleration program would not skip normal checks, balances or community consultation processes, but would instead focus on projects that could commence within six months.”

For example, the Marsden Park North and West Schofields final precinct plans are about to be released which will add another 10,000 homes to the local area, and yesterday I went to see an acreage property out at Mulgoa and whilst I was in the area I drove out to see how construction of the Western Sydney Airport was coming along.

It was such an incredible hive of activity and Premier, Gladys Berejiklian announced this week that the airport is currently well and truly on track to be ready to open as scheduled in 2026.

Both the aerotropolis and the release of land for housing development will have a big impact on acreage prices over the remainder of this decade and beyond.

Also, this week it was positive to see Housing Industry Association's Chief Economist Tim Reardon advise that new home sales have risen by 77.6 per cent in June, from a record low result in May.

"(This is) off the back of the Government’s HomeBuilder program announced at the beginning of the month,”

This result is a positive sign for acreage owners amongst the growth sectors as well as for developers plus the home construction industry.

In other news, “Australia always has been, and is perhaps now even more so, an extremely attractive place to invest money and due to Covid-19 there have been some recent changes which will impact Foreign Investors.

The key changes that affect foreign purchasers are:

* All proposed foreign investments into Australia, subject to the Act, will require approval, regardless of value or the nature of the foreign investor.

* Foreign Investment Review Board will extend timeframes for reviewing applications from 30 days to up to six months.”

I recently sold an acreage property to some buyers from overseas and I anticipate that there will be a lot more investment in blue chip acres by foreign investors in the near future.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 388 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 218 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 120 throughout The Hills district and another 50 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

There were 21 new acreage listings this week (which makes me think that there are some owners who are trying to get a head start on the Spring market), and there were only 9 acreage properties Sold this week, however, on a more positive note there are currently 22 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field this week, there was really good numbers of groups out looking at today’s Open Homes with several parties already showing strong interest and the property at 11 Pitt Street, Windsor has just gone ‘Under Contract’.

This week I have appointments with a number of acreage owners who want to promote their property ‘Off-Market’, so if you’re looking to buy an acreage and want to get early access to any of these places, make sure to check out and register your interest at www.offmarketacres.com.au

If you’re thinking of selling and want to get a head start on the Spring market, you might also like to check out www.offmarketacres.com.au or give me a call on 0410 526 901 to see how we can best help you to maximise the value of your acreage.

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