Acreage Market Wrap - 13th June 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?

Tim Lawless from CoreLogic reported this week that “Consumer sentiment is back to pre-crisis levels according to Westpac. The r'ship between home sales and sentiment has historically been strong, suggesting we should see a further rise in market activity, following a near 20% bounce in home sales through May (off a low April base)”

Plus in an exclusive article, John McGrath reported earlier this week, that Winter is a good time to be selling during a resilient market.

“All the latest pricing data indicates only a small hit to the property market from Covid-19 so far, and it looks like we could be entering a window where buyers priced out six months ago now have an opportunity to get in; plus, with interest rates as low as 2.19 per cent fixed for two years, when compared to the fixed rates of 9 per cent that we experienced during the GFC, acreage right now has become more affordable.

First home buyers, who are looking past the pandemic have been buying enthusiastically with the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme for the 2020 financial year already ‘sold out’.

Of the 10,000 deposit guarantees reserved, about 3,100 were in NSW and another 10,000 guarantees will become available from the 1st of July.

Last week, we learned that GDP for the March quarter fell by -0.3%. It was a big headline because it was only the 4th negative quarter during 29 consecutive years of growth.

But compare this to the rest of the world: -9.8 per cent in China, -5.3 per cent in France, -2.2 per cent in Germany, -2 per cent in UK and -1.3 per cent in the US.

A technical recession might be inevitable but Australia is in a relatively good position.

The banks and governments are providing good support and from an economic perspective, we should take heart in our progress so far.

The Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg said: “The fact that the Australian economy only contracted by -0.3% shows its remarkable resilience.”

RBA Governor, Philip Lowe recently stated that “it’s entirely possible that the economic downturn will not be as severe as earlier thought.”

...and today, the NSW Government announced that “Sydney will need 1 million more homes by 2041 and housing will need to adapt to significant but uneven population growth, climate change and diverse family living arrangements.

The Berejiklian government will deliver the state's first housing strategy to shape how and where NSW residents will live over the next two decades.

Greater Sydney is expected to reach a population of about 7 million by 2041 as a result of births and the arrival of skilled migrants and international students, government estimates show.”

So as predicted, after years of waiting, it finally looks like an announcement that several precincts within the North West Growth Centre are being released for development will happen very soon to help accomodate Sydney’s urban sprawl.

The release of these housing precincts will have a positive impact on the local economy as well as the acreage market, but, unless the NSW Government fast-tracks the announcement to release these precincts, the subdivided land won’t be made available in time to be of any significant benefit to the HomeBuilder scheme.

Speaking of the HomeBuilder scheme, several acreage buyers have asked me about if they buy a property could they use the $25,000 HomeBuilder stimulus package to do renovations. The answer is ‘Yes’ however, for a renovation to be eligible, it will have to cost between $150,000 and $750,000, which could help to improve the amenity, decor and size of an acreage homestead quite dramatically.

However, there are also other restrictions like the pre-renovation value of the house must not exceed $1.5 million. Sheds, yurts, granny flats, pools, tennis courts and any other structure not attached to the home are apparently not be eligible.

As I mentioned last week, it’s going to be very interesting to see how the HomeBuilder scheme impacts the building industry and how the acreage market plays out over these next six months.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 432 acreage properties For Sale across the region, which includes 245 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 129 throughout The Hills district and another 58 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

There were 10 new acreage listings come onto the market this week, and there were only 6 acreage properties Sold this week. With some more positives signs that the market is moving in the right direction, as there are currently a further 21 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field, there were a lot of buyers out looking at acreages at today’s Open Homes and enquiry numbers were up by approx. 27 per cent on last week’s enquiries.

This week I launched a property at 26 Wavehill Avenue, Windsor Downs where we saw double-digit inspection numbers for the first time this decade.

Next week I’ll be launching a couple of other great properties which are both scheduled to go to auction on the 11th of July.

Finally, just a quick reminder that if you want to see what’s really going on in the market make sure to follow the #OZpropertyAlive hashtag.

Also, if you’d like to get early access to any of my acreage listings or find out more about the ‘Off-Market Acres’ properties that I currently have available, simply register at 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

Acreage Market Wrap - 6th June 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?

I hope you’re enjoying the June long weekend so far.

I was out looking at an acreage property at Kurrajong Heights yesterday and on my way back down the hill along the Bells Line of Road it was so good to see so many cars with campers, caravans, bikes and boats on the back and lots of people heading over the mountain to get away into the regional parts of NSW which have been anxiously waiting for tourist dollars to help drive their local economy.

It’s so good to see so much of Australia starting to get back to business as usual, but we still have to do whatever we can to avoid a second wave. The last thing any of us want to have happen is to end up going back into Lockdown again.

There was a lot that happened this week that will impact the acreage market, and an article in Money mag answered a lot of questions about property, for example, should I buy or should I wait to buy property?... and as property expert Terry Ryder pointed out...

“You should go ahead with plans to buy.”

As Terry said, “I hear people who say they will buy when the market hits the bottom, but this strategy seldom works because no one rings a bell when the bottom of the market is reached.

The data that identifies the bottom of a real estate market doesn't become evident until six to nine months after the event. The best strategy is to get out there and look for suitable properties knowing that you're likely to have a strong hand in negotiations because buyers will be relatively scarce. There is stock available and there'll always be people who want to sell and need to sell.”

Plus, in that same article, the question was asked, What happened to property in the GFC? Is that likely to happen again?

Terry Ryder reminded potential buyers that, “In 2008 when the GFC struck and sharemarkets were dropping, there were a lot of forecasts that real estate would crash.

What actually happened in 2009, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, was a rise of 13% and there are other instances where we've had economic crises and stockmarket crashes (such as 1987) when real estate went into a boom stage, with values rising.

There's history of real estate not only being resilient but defying what other markets are doing; it becomes a bit of a safe haven for money when sharemarkets are crashing. In the early 1990s, the last time Australia had a recession, real estate rose - not much but it still did rise on average.”

Also, this week CoreLogic reported that, “Despite the fall, house values this year are still up by 4.2 per cent in Sydney and 1.6 per cent in Melbourne. Over the past 12 months, Sydney values have climbed 15.6 per cent while in Melbourne they are still 12.2 per cent in front. CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, said given the headwinds from the pandemic shutdown, the national drop of 0.5 per cent showed the overall property market had performed relatively well.”

Tim Lawless from CoreLogic, also posted on Twitter that “New ‘for sale’ listings are up 22% since bottoming in early May. Total advertised listings are down 3% over the same period, implying a healthy rate of absorption as buyer activity rises in line with improved sentiment. Low inventory is another factor insulating housing values.”

Also this week, there was an “Overwhelming positive response to the Federal Government's HouseBuilder stimulus package across the building industry bodies.”

“Master Builders Australia believes that the Federal Government’s announcement of the HomeBuilder scheme earlier this week will be a massive relief to the 1000s of home builders and tradies around the country.

Key statements from industry bodies were...

* Master Builders Australia said that “It will mean more new homes, more small businesses and jobs are protected"

* "The industry needed a circuit breaker and this HomeBuilder program is very welcome" - reported the Property Council of Australia

* "Stimulating home building activity has been an effective recovery catalyst in past economic shocks" - Housing Industry Association

* "This alleviates the concerns that the REIA had with a scheme that was only assisting new dwellings" - Real Estate Institute of Australia

How the the Federal Government's $25,000 HouseBuilder stimulus package will work at a glance is...

* House owners will need to provide $150,000 of their own money to be eligible for the $25,000 stimulus towards building and renovations

* The HomeBuilder package is expected to cost the tax-payer $688 million

* The plan will be restricted to people on middle incomes and to new homes and major renovations valued between $150,000 to $750,000.

Here’s a link to more information about the $25,000 HouseBuilder stimulus package.

With the HomeBuilder package and the NSW State Government now looking to allocate their funding into “Shovel ready projects” to help stimulate the economy, it’s no surprise that the NSW Government pulled out of upgrading ANZ Stadium (especially with the current uncertainty surrounding holding large events) and they’ve quickly turned their attention to joining with the Federal Government in announcing that construction will begin this year on a metro line linking the new Western Sydney airport and St Marys railway station, after a $3.5 billion injection into the $11 billion project.

This rail link will eventually connect the airport with the existing Sydney Metro and will run through Marsden Park, along Schofields Road and integrate with the existing end of the metro line at Tallawong Station.

In the coming weeks or months, I predict that the State Government are going to have to come out and announce the rezoning of some of the remaining precincts within the North West Growth Centre like Marsden Park North precinct and West Schofields precinct if they want to have land available to build the new homes to cater for Sydney’s population growth along with the increased injection into new home construction off the back of the HomeBuilder stimulus.

The good news for those who have been waiting for the rezoning is that the shortage of ‘shovel ready’ land available to develop may mean better prices for vacant land which could also mean that developers can afford to offer more per acre for englobo land.

With the NSW Government postponing their budget until December, over the coming months I think we'll also hear a lot more announcements about other local projects like the construction of Rouse Hill hospital, the location of the proposed M9 corridor as well as the proposed 2nd river crossing at North Richmond. One thing's for sure, it will be very interesting to see how this next six months is going to play out.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 431 acreage properties For Sale across the region (that’s 6 fewer than last week and 19 less than there were at the start of May). The total number of acreages available includes 244 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 128 in The Hills area and another 59 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

There were a total of 19 new acreage listings hit the market this week, and there was another 8 acreage properties Sold this week. Plus, currently there are 19 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field, I’ve seen an increase in acreage buyers looking to invest in developable land or land bank opportunities. Plus, there’s been an increase in buyers travelling out from the city suburbs who have reassessed their urban lifestyle and are now looking for a tree-change.

Despite it being a long weekend, there were a good number of buyers out looking today. One of the homes in Windsor Downs had more people through it than I’d seen in the past 5 weeks.

Plus, this week I listed another couple of properties which are both scheduled to go to auction early next month.

One of them is an outstanding acreage property in an elite part of Londonderry and it’s perfectly suited for horses, trucks, land bank investment or just simply enjoying a quality home in a great location.

The other place, isn’t on acres, but rather it has an uninterrupted outlook over acreage and is conveniently located in a highly sought after part of Windsor (in the top end of town) and overlooks Tebbuts Observatory. If you’re used to living on acres and want to downsize and move closer into town (within walking distance of Windsor shops & cafes), and still have the feeling of an acreage lifestyle without all the maintenance then make sure you keep an eye out for this place.

We’ve already had some strong interest in the ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing at 114 Fisher Road, Maraylya that we launched last week. It’s currently still available but if you’re after a nice ranch-style homestead on 5 ridgetop acres with no flooding or power line easements then make sure to get in touch to book an inspection. It’s excellent value for money with a price guide of $1.65m - $1.75m.

Plus, I’ve had several buyers through a couple of the acreage properties that are currently available ‘Off-Market’ in Windsor Downs this week. Behind-the-scenes there’s a lot more buyer activity going on than the Fake News headlines may lead many to believe.

If you want to see what’s really going on in the market make sure to follow the #OZpropertyAlive hashtag.

Also, if you’d like to know more about the ‘Off-Market Acres’ properties I mentioned or get early access to all of my ‘Off-Market Acres’ properties, simply register at www.OffMarketAcres.com.au

Lastly, I’m currently waiting on the final proof to come back on The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) which includes a special Post-COVID-19 report about how the acreage market is likely to be impacted moving forward.

If you’d like to be amongst the first to get your hands on this special Post-COVID-19 acreage report, then simply register at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au or alternatively, when you register for ‘Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also immediately receive access to the previous edition of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) which features an insight into The Future For Acreage This Decade.

It’s definitely worth checking out, because what’s happening Post-COVID-19 ties in with where acreage is headed during this next decade.

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

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, enjoy the rest of your long weekend and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Acreage Market Wrap - 30th May 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?

It’s been such a beautiful day for the last Saturday of the Autumn selling season and it’s been great to see lots of people back out in the market this week.

As I mentioned last week, there’s been some very irresponsible reporting in the media during this Coronavirus pandemic, for example, the Sydney Morning Herald predicted that there would be between 50,000 - 150,000 deaths in Australia due to Covid-19 and now we’re constantly seeing doomsday articles via this same media company and other media outlets reporting that the property market could drop by over 30% and yet when you read deeper into the article they’re saying the correction will be more likely around 10%, which would just put the market back to where it was towards the middle of last year.

Bad News has always sold newspapers and in attempt to get attention the focus of the media is to come up with the most Sensational Headline which they use as a hook to get people in, and with the internet and Social Media so crowded with information, nowadays a lot of the media headlines are simply ‘Click Bait’.

It’s important to read behind the headline and seek out the real data when making such a crucial lifestyle decision as buying or selling a home.

In an exclusive article this week, Leanne Pilkington, president, REINSW puts some facts in the way of predictions around a property market collapse based upon Real data vs what the doomsdayers are saying.

Here’s a link to her article…

Also, the real estate industry has joined forces this week with a positive initiative to help get the message out about what’s really happening out in the front line to help fight back against the Fake News that’s currently being reported in the media about the property market.

Real estate agents have been asked to use the hashtag #OZpropertyAlive to show the real activity that’s currently taking place across Australia.

For example, here at McGrath one of the properties that Phil Nicholas and Tayla Hutt had Open for Inspection had 36 groups through it last Saturday, and Team Nicholas sold 10 properties on their own this month out of our Rouse Hill office.

I anticipate that we will start to see many of those home owners selling up from The Hills area making the move out into the acreage market.

Many home buyers appear to be ignoring the media and are taking advantage of the record low interest rates, embracing the record government stimulus, appreciate that low stock levels will provide market stability and reshaping of the economy plus workplace arrangements with many now able to work from home is already encouraging people to make lifestyle choices.

With so much activity going on in the housing market it’s hard to fathom why the media is pumping out so much Fake News about real estate at the moment.

If you’re interested in getting the real data, check out the #OZpropertyAlive hashtag. You can search the #OZpropertyAlive hashtag across the web and on any of your social media platforms.

Also, something else I mentioned last week was that there could be a push for the Federal Government and the Foreign Investment Review Board to lift some of the current restrictions on foreign ownership, which previously had a major impact on property price growth.

We also need the government to look at continuing with immigration, you see, as Chairman of the Property Investors Council of Australia, Ben Kingsley tweeted earlier this week,

“We're looking at net overseas migration falling to 34-odd thousand next year. It was the great Professor McDonald who set a figure of between 160,000 & 210,000 per year as being what you need in this country to maintain GDP p/capita growth–Mr Morrison said. Let them in Scott! They can ISO first.”

This week we also saw the media carry on about the $60 billion blunder, rather than reporting that the country has just saved $60 billion which means that we don’t need to borrow as much money now to support Australians through the JobKeeper program, which is positive news, but then again positive news doesn’t sell newspapers.

Speaking of newspapers a lot of local newspaper publications were axed this week, which is a real sign of the times and is another reason why real estate agents need to become much more tech savvy nowadays and they need to have a greater understanding of multi-media marketing if they want to remain relevant and engage with today’s more educated consumers and property seekers.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 437 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 251 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 126 in The Hills area and another 60 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

There were 12 new acreage listings come onto the market this week, and the total number of listings For Sale has now only dropped by 13 overall from the peak of 450 properties For Sale that we reached at the start of May.

There were another 5 acreage properties Sold this week. Plus, there’s currently 18 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field, acreage enquiries continued to increased again this week plus the ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing at 309 Fairey Road, South Windsor went ‘Under Contract’.

Plus this week I launched another ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing at 114 Fisher Road, Maraylya. It’s a terrific ranch-style homestead on 5 ridgetop acres with no flooding or power line easements. It’s excellent value with a price guide of $1.65m - $1.75m.

If you’d like to know more about the property or get already early access to all of my ‘Off-Market Acres’ properties, simply register at www.OffMarketAcres.com.au

As the end of Autumn is almost upon us for another year, I’ve put together a special Post-COVID-19 report about how the acreage market is being impacted and it will feature in the soon to be released copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) which will be available to download early June.

I’m looking forward to sharing this upcoming edition of The Acreage Report with you. If you’d like to be amongst the first to get your hands on this special Post-COVID-19 acreage report, then simply register at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au or alternatively, when you register for ‘Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also immediately receive access to the current edition of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition)

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

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

Acreage Market Wrap - 23rd May 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? 

With kids going back to school as normal next week and after enjoying a chicken schnitzel pub meal with the family earlier this week plus sitting down for Sunday brunch in a cafe at the top end of Windsor the Coronavirus restrictions have certainly given a lot of us a new appreciation for the little things in life.

As John McGrath said earlier this week, we’ve got to this first stage of the Post-Covid-19 period after only 2 months of restrictions which is about 4 months ahead of what was anticipated. There are lots of positives that need to be taken into consideration when you start trying to assess what the real impact the Coronavirus will have on the property market in the coming months.

One thing that’s for sure is that there’s been some very irresponsible reporting in the media during this Coronavirus pandemic, for example, one of the Fairfax publications predicted that there would be between 50,000 - 150,000 deaths in Australia due to Covid-19.

Sadly this week the Coronavirus death toll in Australia reached over 100 people, which is over 100 more than we would ever wish for, and we would much prefer that there were zero deaths from this pandemic, but, thankfully the figures predicted in the newspaper weren’t even close, and now we’re seeing articles via this same media company and others about the property market dropping by over 30%.

Over the past 3 decades I’ve seen a lot of ‘chicken little’ reporting in the newspapers about the real estate market. A couple of years ago there was the ‘bricks and slaughter’ report on 60mins, before that there was a guy from the USA called Harry Dent who apparently predicted the GFC. Harry Dent held sold out events as he toured Australia spruiking that the Australian property market was about to crash (which by the way didn’t happen) and back in the late ‘90’s there was a real estate trainer, Neil Jenman who put out a Boom & Bust report which predicted that the market would Bust... which didn’t even come close to happening.

Throughout all of these periods of predicted slumps the property market performed so much better than any of these sensationalised claims had predicted, in fact, in some cases the opposite happened and we went through a Boom period instead.

In fact, this week the President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, Adrian Kelly came forward and said...

“Forecasts saying that house prices will drop up to 30 per cent, are highly questionable. He said, “We are in unprecedented times and anyone that suggests they can forecast with any acceptable degree of probability is being highly fanciful,” 

“We can only look at what is happening in the market place at the moment as well as in previous times of high unemployment to provide pointers to likely outcomes. 

“Currently we have a situation where listings are decreasing yet the enquiry level from prospective buyers is increasing.

"It is simple economics that when supply decreases and demand remains that prices edge upwards, they certainly don’t drop.” 

I agree. We are in unprecedented times and it’s going to be an interesting, uncertain road ahead but every market, whether you invest in shares, bonds or property, the market always has a level of uncertainty to it....and real estate has always been seen as a long term investment.

When buying an acreage property you shouldn’t look to buy your family home based purely on the market, but instead you should make your decision based on your life.

You’ll be very lucky to ever be able to pick exactly where the top or the bottom of any market is.

You see, who knows what incentives we are going to see the government come up with in the future to boost the economy and keep the property market moving. For example, we’re already hearing reports that Stamp Duty may be abolished in the future which will help to make moving cheaper, and the building sector came out this week with several recommendations and called for urgent reforms. 

Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia said

“Some big and bold thinking is required to get the Australian economy going again after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As Australia’s biggest employer which contributes over 13 per cent of GDP, the property industry can be a powerhouse behind economic recovery and growth with the right policy settings and market incentives from the federal, state and territory governments,” Mr Morrison said. 

The Property Council have put forward a 7 Point Plan for Economic Recovery which includes a Housing Construction Economic Kickstart including a $50,000 ‘New Home Boost’ scheme to startup construction for new housing, generate jobs and boost consumer confidence with the potential to stimulate construction of 50,000 new dwellings.

You can see more details about the Property Council’s proposed 7 Point Plan here...

It’s also likely that in an effort to stimulate the economy there could be a push for the Federal Government and the Foreign Investment Review Board to lift some of the current restrictions on foreign ownership, which previously had a major impact on property price growth.

Speaking of foreign ownership, Juwai IQI also announced the launch of Juwai.asia this week which is likely to open up opportunities to promote acreage property not just to Chinese buyers but also to buyers throughout the rest of Asia, which could help boost activity in the acreage sector.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 431 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 246 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 128 in The Hills area and another 57 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown. 

Even after 21 new acreage listings entered the market this week, the total number of listings For Sale has dropped from the high of 450 properties For Sale at the start of May and now there’s currently 19 fewer acreages available For Sale across the entire region.

Sales activity was up on last week as there were 9 acreage properties Sold this week. Plus, there’s currently 19 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field this week, acreage enquiries increased again plus there were more people out looking for acreage at today’s Open Homes than we’ve seen for months. 

This week, I’ll be launching another amazing ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing on 5 acres in Marayla. If you’ve already registered for early access to www.OffMarketAcres.com.au keep an eye on your inbox so that you can be amongst the first to get all the details when we launch this ‘Off-Market Acres’ property in the Maraylya later this week.

As Autumn comes to an end for another year, I’m currently putting the finishes touches on a special Post-Covid 19 copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) which will be published early next month.

The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) will be covering important insights into the 4 types of acreage buyers that are currently out there in the market, along with the 3 pricing fundamentals of acreage properties, as well as the 2 types of economists that you need be aware of, especially if you’re trying to pick the trends in the property market - plus I’ll be sharing the #1 thing that your acreage agent must put all of their energy and focus on over the coming weeks and months if they’re going to help you achieve the best outcome possible during this post Covid-19 period.

I’m looking forward to sharing this upcoming edition of The Acreage Report with you. If you’d like to be amongst the first to get your hands on this special edition, then simply register at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au or alternatively, when you register for ‘Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also immediately receive access to the current edition of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition)

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market.

Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

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

Acreage Market Wrap - 16th May 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?

With the Coronavirus restrictions starting to be lifted, it’s so good to see people back out & about again today. Not feeling trapped at home in lockdown like we were only a few weeks ago is such a positive feeling and already there’s a real sense of Australians getting back to more of a normal life again.

Now speaking about this opening up, not only are we seeing the opening up of cafe’s, restaurants and pubs as the Coronavirus restrictions start to be lifted, but also locally, after a long wait for thousands of residents living on the other side of the Hawkesbury River, the new Windsor Bridge is scheduled to be open to traffic this coming Monday.

Fingers crossed that once the new bridge opens hopefully traffic getting across the river will flow a lot better, especially during the morning and afternoon peak congestion periods.

Whilst a WIndsor By-Pass definitely would’ve been the preferred option, only time will tell if the new Windsor bridge improves the traffic flow or not.

If it does improve traffic congestion significantly, it’s likely we’ll see an increase in buyer interest for acreage properties in Wilberforce, Freeman’s Reach, Ebenezer, East Kurrajong, Glossodia, Lower Portland, Blaxlands Ridge and surrounding suburbs that rely on access over the river via the Wilberforce flats.

Also just yesterday, Nassim Khadem from the ABC shared an article which confirmed that enquiries have increased from Australians looking to move out of the cities into more rural areas. Two of the Key points in his article were:-

- The option of living further away from big cities has become more appealing for some Australians after the pandemic

- Whatever happens to the housing market, COVID-19 has shifted the way people think about where they live and work

So as I’ve predicted previously, it looks like there are going to be some positive outcomes for the acreage market during the Post-COVID-19 period.

Last week I mentioned that the State Government urgently need to announce more specific details about any proposed changes to Stamp Duty in NSW and they need to do it fast to remove the uncertainty their announcement has made, but, unfortunately Premier Gladys Berejiklian came out this week and only added more fuel to the fire by confirming that the State Government are considering changes to Stamp Duty.

I’m sorry Gladys & The Treasurer Dominic, but with the upmost respect, you’ve gone about this the wrong way. Right now isn’t the time to play politics and start speculating about possible changes to the current Stamp Duty policy that I’m lead to believe still have as yet to be passed by the cabinet.

Pleeeaaassseee, the people of NSW have gone through enough pain & uncertainty over the past few months and there’s still so much uncertainty that they have to deal with. What they need now is clarity about major decisions like this.

People are now confused and don’t know “do I buy now or do I wait just in case I don’t have to pay Stamp Duty”.

People need certainty about what you’re going to do with Stamp Duty and they deserve to know now!

We need to know is this just an idea that was sketched out on a paper napkin that may take 12 months or several years to pass through parliament or is there an actual policy, an implementation plan and is there a timeframe in place that you can release right now? If not, why would you ever consider making such a rash announcement in the middle of this Coronavirus turmoil.

Personally I think you should come out and tell us that the changes will be retrospective and that people will have the choice to either pay the Stamp Duty upfront now or pay an ongoing Land Tax and if they purchase a property today that they can claim a refund of the Stamp Duty if they decide to select the option of paying an ongoing Land Tax. You need to give people the opportunity to decide and let them get on with their lives. Anyway rant over!

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 433 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 244 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 130 in The Hills area and another 59 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

Even though, this week there were 9 new acreage listings enter the market, a positive indicator for the acreage sector is that the total number of listings For Sale has dropped from the high of 450 properties For Sale at the start of May (only a couple of weeks ago) and now there’s currently 17 fewer listings available For Sale across the entire region.

Sales activity was similar to last week and there were another 7 acreage properties Sold this week. Plus, another positive sign is that there’s currently 17 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field this week, there’s definitely been an increase in acreage enquiries plus there were more people attending today’s Open Homes as well I experienced a much higher volume of private inspections being conducted during this week compared to previous weeks.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what the media reports about the auction clearance rates after this week’s further relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Also this week, I officially launched another amazing ‘Off-Market Acres’ listing at 22 Kimberley Lane, Windsor Downs and we’ve already had several inspections on the property and there’s some very strong interest at present from a couple of buyers.

The owner is really happy because there’s already been lots of buyer activity and they haven’t had to pay a single cent on marketing.

At this rate, I don’t think this one is going to be around for long. If you haven’t seen the property as yet, I did an extensive Facebook Live video walkthrough of this classic Australian Colonial Homestead on just over 2.3 acres with spectacular views over the valley earlier this week. Here’s a link to that video and more information about this secret gem.

Also, if you’re in the market for a great acreage property around the Maraylya area then definitely make sure you get in touch with me or register for updates at www.OffMarketAcres.com.au so that you can be amongst the first to get all the details when we launch another ‘Off-Market Acres’ property in the Maraylya area later this week.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a lot of questions come in from acreage owners about…

How does the $Zero marketing dollars ‘Off-Market Acres’ strategy actually work?

So if you’re thinking of buying or selling an acreage property and you’d like to know more about ‘Off-Market Acres’ where Secret Places are Revealed I’ll put a link to an article underneath this video which should help provide some great answers for you.

Now, lastly, behind-the-scenes there’s a lot happening. In fact, I’m currently in the process of putting together a special Post-Covid 19 copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Winter edition) which I’ll be launching over the next couple of weeks.

The Acreage Report will be covering important insights into the 4 types of acreage buyers that are currently out there in the market, along with the 3 pricing fundamentals of acreage properties, as well as the 2 types of economists that you need be aware of, especially if you’re trying to pick the trends in the property market - plus I’ll be sharing the #1 thing that your acreage agent must put all of their energy and focus on over the coming weeks and months if they’re going to help you achieve the best outcome possible during this post Covid-19 period.

I’m looking forward to sharing this upcoming edition of The Acreage Report with you. If you’d like to be amongst the first to get your hands on this special edition, then simply register at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au or alternatively, when you register for ‘Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also immediately receive access to the current edition of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition)

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

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

Acreage Market Wrap - 9th May 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?

Firstly I just want to take this opportunity to wish all of the Mum’s out there a Very Happy Mother’s Day for tomorrow. I hope your day is extra special and that you get spoilt and have the opportunity to catch up with your family during this unusual Covid-19 period.

This week, the NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet announced via the media that the state government are considering abolishing Stamp Duty. It looks like they’re going to replace the one-off payment with a recurring revenue model.

This decision reminds me of something Robert Kyosaki shared in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad about the difference between the cattle farmer and the dairy farmer.

The cattle farmer raises his stock and sends them off to the cattle sales and he only makes his money once from each head of cattle that’s sold, whereas, the dairy farmer raises his calves up to produce milk and then the dairy farmer makes their money continuously by milking them everyday for the rest of their lives.

Personally I think abolishing Stamp Duty in its current form is a positive move by the State Government because communities will become more transient and property owners will have more flexibility to move around, plus, the annual revenue stream will be more predictable for the government which will help when budgeting for projects & services.

I see that abolishing Stamp Duty would be a welcome change as so many people are currently up for an extra $50 - $70,000 and in some cases hundreds of 1,000’s of dollars in upfront stamp duty which adds an enormous sting in the tail to the change-over costs which can make moving prohibitive.

In particular, I see that it would assist people who are currently stuck in dilemmas like having to put up with living next to bad neighbours or some people who are undecided about whether to take on that new job role or others who simply want to make that tree-change but they’re worried that if their move doesn’t work out then under our current Stamp Duty system they’re facing having to give another huge chunk of money to the state government if they end up having to move back to their original neighbourhood.

The only problem that I do have with the proposed abolishment of Stamp Duty is the timing of the announcement and the fact that there wasn’t enough detail provided about how it will actually work, plus I strongly believe that a change like this needs to be rolled out retrospectively from when the Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet made the original announcement.

In fact, I’ve already sent a couple of messages to The Treasurer this week saying that he needs to sort out the timing of the roll-out of these changes very quickly or otherwise his media announcement will create extra uncertainty and could only serve to ‘Stall The Market’ across all property sectors before the property market even gets a chance to move forward as the Covid-19 restrictions are now becoming relaxed.

If you’d like to know more details about Why The NSW Government Should Roll-Out Changes To Stamp Duty Retrospectively here’s a link to the article I wrote earlier this week.

Speaking about the Coronavirus, something that I’ve been talking to my clients about recently is...

“now that the lockdowns measures are starting to become more relaxed and the infection rate in Australian has been so low compared to other nations, Australia is going to become seen as an even safer place and I believe we should start to see a significant increase in foreign investment off the back of how our country has pulled together during the Coronavirus crisis”

... and in fact, my prediction looks like it’s already starting to happen.

In an article from Asia’s biggest proptech group, “Juwai IQI, Chief Executive Georg Chmiel delivered his verdict on the Foreign Investment Review Board's latest report, and he revealed that the Australia’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic may increase foreign real estate investment from Asia.

According to Juwai IQI, Chinese buyers made twice the number of enquiries on Australian real estate in April as in any other month so far this year and 50 per cent more than in any month in the second half of 2019.

Apparently marketers in China are already using Australia’s good performance to persuade parents of children who have been studying in the US and the UK to look at Australia instead.

Plus, when you consider the exchange rate and the fact that our Aussie dollar dropped significantly during the stock market downturn, property is now even more affordable for foreign investors.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out and where the market resurgence will start to come, especially for the acreage market, as we now start to navigate our way through this post-Coronavirus period.

How’s The Acreage Market?

There are currently 438 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 244 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 132 in The Hills area and another 62 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, there were only 5 new acreage listings enter the market and there were a total of 7 acreage properties Sold this week. Which is a positive sign for the acreage market because it’s the first time so far this year that we’ve actually seen more acreage sales than we’ve had New Listings coming onto the market... and on top of that there are currently 14 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ throughout the region.

Out in the field, it was great to be able to do Open Homes and On-site Auctions again in NSW this weekend. I anticipate that we’ll start to see the auction clearance rates start to increase and activity has already started to increase as the Covid-19 restrictions start to become more relaxed. As I mentioned last week, I could sense an underlying groundswell of acreage activity starting to build up a head of steam, especially from buyers looking to escape away from the crowded suburbs and embrace a more spacious, peaceful acreage lifestyle.

This week I’ve just listed another ‘Off-Market Acres’ property which is a classic Australian Colonial style homestead complete with the bull-nose verandahs, an open-plan Conservatorium-style living area with spectacular uninterrupted views overlooking hundreds of acres of grazing paddocks.

The property is set on 2.3 creek front acres and features 5 bedrooms + a study, spacious living, high ceilings, an excellent entertainment area, swimming pool, large brick workshop complete with a separate 1BR studio. Located in a quiet culdesac at 22 Kimberley Lane, Windsor Downs, it’s been priced to sell with a Price Guide of $1.65m - $1.7m.

If you’d like to know more or want to arrange an inspection make sure you get in touch with me as there’s already been a number of ‘Off-Market Acres’ buyers who’ve expressed strong interest in this one.

You’re going to absolutely love the privacy out the back and you’ll get to enjoy some of the most spectacular sunrises looking out over the valley in the mornings.

Also, speaking of ‘Off-Market Acres’, we are about to expand our service to allow even More Secret Places To Be Revealed because we’re extending our audience and market reach out into the acreage areas of the Central Tablelands. Over the coming weeks you’ll start to see our Facebook page showcasing a number of ‘Off-Market Acres’ in the rural parts of NSW around Mudgee/Gulgong, etc. which will be shared exclusively via our McGrath Central Tablelands team.

If you’re thinking about selling your acreage property you may like to consider trying this extremely popular, new ‘Off-Market’ approach. To find out more or alternatively if you’re looking to buy acres and want to be amongst the first to know about any of our ‘Off-Market Acres’ properties, make sure to check out www.OffMarketAcres.com.au or Like our Facebook page at Facebook.com/OffMarketAcres.

When you register at www.OffMarketAcres.com.au you’ll also receive a Free copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) which includes important insights into ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' as well as the Two Biggest Factors Set To Impact Acreage Over The Next 10 Years.

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from property expert, John McGrath.

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, Happy Mother’s Day and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Why NSW Govt Proposed Changes To Stamp Duty Need To Be Rolled-Out Retrospectively

Historically whenever the state government makes decisions around new initiatives for the property market, they typically adopt a specific launch date for when the changes take place, but this time around I believe the government really need to roll-out the changes to Stamp Duty retrospectively.

In fact, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet MP posted on his Facebook page a link to an article in Saturday’s SMH regarding a five-point strategy for NSW which includes abolishing Stamp Duty

I reached out to the NSW Treasurer today in the hope that he would look at rolling this initiative out retrospectively…

Dominic, this is a welcomed initiative, but, you need to specify timing before announcing changes like this. I believe that your timing of this announcement is actually going to further stall the market if it remains as open-ended as it currently stands.

The property market is going through enough uncertainty during Covid-19, now it’s likely buyers may hold off from purchasing unless the Government comes out with a follow up briefing to the media that axing stamp duty will be retrospective to your media announcement on Saturday.

With the potential that such an enormous, unnecessary expense is likely to be removed from the property transaction equation, it is a very welcome decision for people looking to move, but, by not announcing a timeline and alerting the media of the abolishment of Stamp Duty is a poorly timed release, if it turns out that the proposed changes are only in the concept phase at this stage.

I believe the best approach from here would be to make an announcement that the changes to Stamp Duty are retrospective which will allow the property market to move forward on its own merits, or withdraw your statement altogether so people can get on with their lives.

Stamp Duty is such a prohibitive expense, and as John McGrath said in his article earlier today titled STAMP DUTY IMPACTS OUR ABILITY TO MOVE HOUSE,

Stamp duty is easily the worst of the taxes that residential owners have to pay every time they buy a new house. It’s calculated based on the purchase price and there’s been little change to it despite prices rising significantly over the past three decades. 

The median house price in Sydney in 1990 was less than $200,000, on which you’d pay about $5,500 in stamp duty. Today, it’s above $1 million and the duty is more than $40,000. 

As a result, many families are living in cramped environments or far away from their work or their kids’ schools because moving is simply too expensive. 

Data shows that people are staying put longer in their current homes and this has implications for society.  

To read more about this, check out John’s article here and the announcement in the SMH here

It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly the NSW Government moves on this announcement and how they roll it out.

Let’s hope they provide some certainty sooner rather than later, because leaving it up in the air won’t benefit anyone and it will only serve to build a level of resentment, especially amongst property owners who are wanting to sell and buy in the current market.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Acreage Market Wrap - 2nd May 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?

I received a notification earlier this week that Hawkesbury City Council is exhibiting a planning proposal to make amendments to their Local Environmental Plan.

The proposed amendments generally relate to matters such as updating general wording and referencing; amending the LEP due to provisions of State Planning Policies; changes to minimum lot size provisions; site specific rezoning and land classifications; and correcting some minor drafting and mapping errors.

The proposed amendments also include the addition of certain land uses as permissible development. The exhibition of the planning proposal is available to view up until the 22nd of May. You can see the proposed amendments to the LEP and have your say via this link.

There was also an eye-opening report released this week by CBRE Research which delves into lessons learnt from the most recent economic shocks and impacts on the property market which could provide some good indicators as we navigate our way forward during the Coronvirus-impacted economy.

One of the most compelling predictions was that a 10% correction was more likely outcome in some sectors, which is a much more positive outlook than the 30% price drop hype that the media was previously reported.

The report also highlighted the importance of understanding that each of the different property market sectors will behave differently during economic cycles. For example, the apartment market looks like being impacted significantly by some of the international restrictions. For more detail, here’s a link to the CBRE report.

The CBRE report also showed that…

SALES VOLUMES REBOUND QUICKLY WHEN ECONOMIC CONDITIONS TURN

+

RESIDENTIAL MARKETS TYPICALLY RECOVER WELL AFTER SHOCKS

As lockdowns measures start to become relaxed it looks like we could start to see a significant increase in activity in the housing sector, especially within certain segments of the acreage market.

Especially after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced yesterday that Australians have earned an early mark and most importantly when they start to reduce some of the restrictions the Government are determined to keep Australia’s economy moving forward.

As radio host Kate Langbroek said, “we’ve got to be like the emblems on our coat of arms, the kangaroo and the emu, they only go forward and as a country we only want to move forward from here.”

This has been a difficult period for our nation and hopefully with relaxed measures being announced this Friday by the PM our economy can start moving forward again and I’m sure Aussies will rally together as we always do in times of crisis and continue to stop the spread. Keep up the great work team Australia.

In other news, this week, Australia’s leading property data provider CoreLogic recently rolled out a brand new weekly report titled the ‘Early Market Indicators’ and the data could provide an insightful forecast into what’s ahead for the property market. It’s definitely going to be very interesting to see how these early indicators start to play out during the Post-COVID19 period.

You see, in the housing sector there’s been a shortage of listings over the past year with many people holding off from selling during last year’s elections and lots of people currently putting their plans on hold off the back of the Coronavirus pandemic due to the uncertainty in the market.

Interestingly, the acreage market hasn’t experienced the same shortage of listings during this same period, yet there are fewer acreage properties currently on the market than there were around the same time last year.

In fact, as reported in last year’s publication of The Acreage Report 2019 (Autumn edition) there were a total of 479 acreage properties For Sale and there were only 56 acreages sold during that Summer period, whereas, in this years copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) there were 386 acreages For Sale and a total of 104 acreage properties Sold during this corresponding quarter.

These acreage sales results looked set to continue to increase dramatically throughout the Autumn months, however, they were dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 and so far, we’ve seen available listings increase back up to 450 acreages For Sale and there’s been a total of 36 acreage properties Sold during these first two months of Autumn 2020.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 450 acreage properties For Sale across the region. This total includes 245 acreage properties For Sale throughout The Hawkesbury, 139 throughout in The Hills area and another 66 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, there were another 15 new acreage listings enter the market and similar to last week there were another 6 acreage properties Sold this week. Also, there’s currently 14 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field, I can sense an underlying groundswell of acreage activity starting to build up a head of steam as I’ve being experiencing a steady flow of initial enquiries coming from buyers looking to escape the city life and embrace working from home amongst a quieter acreage lifestyle.

Also, looking closer into the CoreLogic Early Market Indicators Report, there was a 23.94% increase in the number of market appraisal reports generated within their system in this past week (which is a Pre-Listing Activity) and that indicates that there could be quite a few new listings coming onto the market in these coming weeks as property owners get ready to make a move.

CoreLogic also reported that there was an increase in mortgage activity which was up by 9.83% from last week and up by a massive 79% compared to the same time last year. There also appears to be a huge increase to the number of people refinancing as homeowners are taking this opportunity to lock in their mortgage at record low rates with 73% of loan applications currently being for refinancing which was up by 13.4% from last week.

The CoreLogic report also showed that 17.4% of loan applications were for property purchases which also increased by 14.24% this week and was up by 44.11% compared to this time last year which goes to prove that property transactions are still occurring throughout the COVID-19 period and actually many of the agents within our McGrath network have experienced some outstanding sales results throughout April, which is a fantastic outcome for our clients.

When you weigh up all the facts and take into consideration the current low interest rates, the highly anticipated ‘U’-shaped acreage recovery which was postponed back in March due to the Coronavirus, plus the extensive selection of acreage stock currently available to choose from along with the affordable pricing of acreage properties at the moment, purchasing acreage now before the market bounces back looks like not only being a great chance to secure a quality acreage lifestyle property, but, also at the same time lock-in your mortgage at the lowest interest rate ever seen in Australia’s history.

Also, the insights I shared about ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' as well The Two Biggest Factors Set To Impact Acreage Over The Next 10 Years that I featured in The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) are some other great reasons why right now looks like being an excellent time to be buying acreage.

You can get a FREE copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) at www.TheAcreageReport.com.au

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

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, keep up the great work and bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Hawkesbury City Council Propose Amendments To Local Environment Plan

I received notification this week that “Hawkesbury City Council is exhibiting a planning proposal (LEP003/15) affecting certain land within the Hawkesbury Local Government Area.

The proposed amendments are generally procedural (housekeeping) as it relates to matters such as updating general wording and referencing; amending the LEP due to provisions of State Planning Policies; changes to minimum lot size provisions; site specific rezoning and land classifications; and correcting some minor drafting and mapping errors.   

The proposed amendments also include the addition of certain land uses as permissible development in the RU1 Primary Production, RU2 Rural Landscape, RU4 Primary Production Small Lots, RU5 Village, R1 General Residential, R2 Low Density Residential, R3 Medium Density Residential, R5 Large Lot Residential and E3 Environmental Management & E4 Environmental Living zones.

Land Affected: Certain land within the Hawkesbury local government area as detailed in the Planning Proposal. 

The Draft General Amendments to the Hawkesbury Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP003/15) is on exhibition between Friday 24 April 2020 to Friday 22 May 2020 inclusive. 

A copy of the Draft General Amendments to the Hawkesbury LEP 2012 (LEP003/15) and supporting information can be viewed on Council’s website at “Your Hawkesbury Your Say”

The last day for the receipt of submissions is Friday 22 May 2020.”

This is part of several Local Council’s obligation to prepare changes to their Local Environment Plan so that they can work in with NSW Planning under the new guidelines.

One of the documents Hawkesbury City Council made reference to within these proposed amendments is the Hawkesbury Community Strategic Plan.

Source: Hawkesbury City Council

As I’ve shared previously, Planning NSW announced a new approach to precinct planning which places more involvement and responsibility in the hands of local councils and communities.

“Within the new approach are four pathways, as well as planning for the Aerotropolis, to progress the 51 existing precincts in Greater Sydney. The Department will support each council individually throughout the transition of each precinct into one of the four pathways.

• State-led strategic planning

• Collaborative planning between the State and councils

• State-led zoning

• Council-led zoning

As part of this new approach, local councils will be empowered to plan for their local areas because they know their people and communities best. The Department will continue to support and collaborate with each council to deliver great places while remaining focused on strategic issues and getting a coordinated approach from State agencies.”

I don’t believe that the Hawkesbury City Council have fully anticipated the population growth that will occur in and around Sydney over the next decade and the exponential growth that will occur around the fringes of the North West Growth Centre.

The groundswell of Sydney’s future expansion is on a collision course with The Hawkesbury district and it will be interesting to see how long Hawkesbury City Councils latest amendments are going to apply, especially when considering the anticipated increase in population growth of Sydney of an extra 1.5 million people from the current 5 million approx. to nearing 6.5 million by 2030.

When compared to neighbouring councils like The Hills Council, Penrith City Council and Blacktown City Council which have very deep pockets and much larger planning departments, the Hawkesbury City Council with their current financial position and conservatism will most likely put them in a position where they find the next decade very difficult for the council in its current form.

I anticipate that NSW Planning may actually step in and make some state-based decisions that are going to be beyond their control.

It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out, but one things for sure after tuning into last week’s online Council Meeting, there seemed to be way too much time spent patting themselves on the back for my liking, but then again what could one expect, it is a Council election year after all.

If you’d like to check out the proposed amendments and have your say, visit the link here

Regards

Greg Vincent

CoreLogic Early Market Indicators A Potential Eye-Opener For Acreage Market

CoreLogic recently rolled out a new weekly report titled ‘Early Market Indicators’ and it’s interesting to see how these indicators will play out during the Post-COVID19 period.

In the housing sector there’s been a shortage of listings over the past year with many people holding off from selling during last year’s elections and lots of people currently putting their plans on hold off the back of the Coronavirus pandemic due to the uncertainty in the market.

Interestingly, the acreage market hasn’t experienced the same shortage of listings during this same period, yet there are fewer acreage properties currently on the market than there were around the same time last year.

In fact, as reported in last year’s publication of The Acreage Report 2019 (Autumn edition) there were a total of 479 acreage properties For Sale and there were only 56 acreages sold during that Summer period, whereas, in this years copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) there were 386 acreages For Sale and a total of 104 acreage properties Sold during this corresponding quarter.

These acreage sales results looked set to continue to increase dramatically throughout the Autumn months, however, they were dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 and so far, we’ve seen available listings increase back up to 444 acreages For Sale (as per this week’s Acreage Market Wrap), and there’s been a total of 36 acreage properties Sold during these first two months of Autumn 2020.

As we start to move into a period of reduction of the Coronavirus lock-down restrictions, it looks like we will see a steady flow of acreage buyer activity entering back into the market, especially from buyers craving more room after being stuck in lockdown and those seeking a quieter tree-change lifestyle.

It’s also very interesting to see that the CoreLogic data indicates a 23.94% increase in the number of market appraisal reports generated within their system in the past week (which is shown as Pre-Listing Activity in the Early Market Indicators Report below which means that there could be quite a few new listings coming onto the market in the coming weeks.

From my personal experience and the number of acreage owners that I’ve been speaking with recently who are thinking of selling Post-COVID 19, I anticipate that there could be an increase in acreage listings available, but, after having spoken with lots of acreage buyers throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, I believe that there could be a significant volume of new listings coming onto the market in the housing sector as people make their move to an acreage lifestyle or make a tree change or sea change.

So if you’re Thinking About Selling Your Acreage Property Post-COVID 19, you may find that making a few decisions slightly earlier than you may have been planning could give you the edge over the competition, especially if the market goes through a correction some property analysts are predicting.

To assist you, here’s an article that you may find helpful which outlines…

5 Ways To Jump Ahead Of The Pack During The Post-Covid-19 Recovery

As Eliza Owen from CoreLogic reported in her recent article about The Relative Resilience of Property Values, it was very interesting to see that…

“in the 28 days ending April 21st, the change in value was still positive at 0.4%. It is noteworthy however, that momentum in this positive growth rate has slowed from 1.1% halfway through March.”

For more information about these recent stats from CoreLogic visit the article here.

I hope find this information helpful.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Acreage Market Wrap - 26th April 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?

I normally would've recorded this update yesterday but being Anzac Day I wanted to be respectful to our diggers by postponing this video until today.

Firstly, I’d like to take this moment to remember and salute those brave and selfless Australians who sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy this wonderful country. And at the same time I’d like to pay special tribute to our current front line heroes who have been displaying a similar Anzac Spirit towards fighting off this disease and putting their own lives at risk.

Yesterday, was a very different Anzac Day but on reflection it was one of the most moving and life-changing that I’ve experienced in my life and I’ll be sharing some reflections and insights about Anzac Day here on my website over the next day or two.

Also, I wanted to do a huge shout out of Congratulations to everyone in team Australia (and if you’re here in Australia, that includes you) who’ve been doing an amazing job to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

According to The Guardian App, the number of new cases has dropped significantly over the past month with the latest stats showing that there were 21 cases nationally on Friday and in NSW we saw a reduction from the 21 new cases last Saturday dropping down to single digits for consecutive days for the rest of the week, even dropping down to only 2 new cases on Tuesday, however on Friday it jumped back up to double digits with 12 new cases in NSW which was over half of the new cases Nationally

Update: the stats have since been updated to show that new cases in NSW has dropped back down to 8 yesterday on Anzac Day.

When compared to the peak of 212 cases that we had in NSW back on the 27th March, these reduced numbers are excellent news, however, we certainly can’t relax the restrictions just yet, especially here in NSW, because our death rate is double that of any other state and our current hospitalisation rate is almost 10 times that of any other state.

Compared to what’s happening elsewhere globally we are doing exceptionally well and the Federal Government, State Government and the National Cabinet should be commended for how they have handled this crisis, especially Prime Minister Scott Morrison for his leadership throughout this pandemic, regardless of whatever your political preferences are, and whilst it’s still far from over, it’s been a great team effort and it’s been good to see how they’ve all worked together to steer our country through this global pandemic so far.

Confident, Calm & Considered Leadership Is Critical During Any Crisis

Talking about leadership, I’d also like to give a big shout out to John McGrath for his leadership throughout this pandemic, because every morning from Monday to Friday throughout the past month I’ve had a Zoom meeting with John McGrath and other real estate mentors along with some of the greatest real estate agents in the country.

I must say that the caliber of the people who I have been able to meet up with over these past 4-5 weeks has been extraordinary and it’s helped me to skill-up to a point that I have now been able to take my service level and professionalism to a whole new level in preparation for the Post-COVID 19 period.

It’s been an incredible period of personal growth for me and it goes to show that we should never stop growing, innovating, improving and that it’s important to remain humble, never take anything for granted and always be open to learning new and better ways of serving others.

I am extremely proud of our team at McGrath and their efforts during this time.

One thing that’s very reassuring is that each day during our Zoom meetings I get an update from our team about the large volume of transactions that are still happening across Sydney and throughout Australia despite the Coronavirus restrictions.

These updates are really positive indicators for what I feel may unfold for the acreage market in the coming weeks and months.

I’m looking forward to the future for the acreage market during the upcoming Post-COVID 19 period and helping my clients by providing the best new innovation tools along with the right advice to help them achieve their property goals.

PERSONALLY I THINK THEY GOT THIS ONE WRONG

Whilst I like to try to focus on the positives of the market during this time, there’s something that I must say left me feeling a bit shocked this week.

You see when I was scrolling through the property websites recording the weekly acreage stats, I saw a photograph taken of a couple of other agents (definitely not part of our network) standing in front of a sold sign with face masks and gloves on spruiking that they’d sold a property during Covid-19 and yet the sold sign in the background has a big headline across it saying ‘Deceased Estate’.

With so many people dying of Coronavirus globally and so many people impacted by this crisis it just felt like it was a bit of poor form and was in bad taste.

At the moment I really believe that all agents across our industry need to raise their standards of professionalism and should be adopting a role model mindset throughout the Covid-19 period because families really need us more than ever now to be an example, lead the way forward, step up and be more understanding and empathetic to others during this pandemic.

Maybe I’ve got this one wrong and maybe it was all just done as a bit of fun, or perhaps it’s just a timing thing and the ‘Deceased Estate’ heading on the sign part struck a nerve with me, but, it just didn’t feel right to me.

Especially after recently losing a close family friend very suddenly as well as having one of my other mates Dad having passed away and sadly neither of these amazing men got to have the proper send off that they both so richly deserved at their funeral services this week.

You see, there would normally have been hundreds of people attending these funerals to pay their respects and it’s such an empty feeling when you can’t say farewell to someone you care about and simply being able to give the families a hug to comfort them at the moment.

It’s always a tough time for anyone who has lost a loved one at the best of times, but during the current lock-down I appreciate that it makes it even harder on the families & friends who want to support each other through the grief. Anyway, I’ve had my rant about this matter, let’s move on.

So, getting back to John McGrath, it was great to see his article earlier this week about what he and I both foresee happening Post-COVID 19, once people start getting back to more of a normal life, beyond this lock-down period.

John said,

“As we all spend more time at home due to social distancing and working remotely, there is the opportunity to ponder what is truly important to us and the type of lives we want to lead. Our homes are a reflection of this, so I see a wave of seachanging and treechanging in our near future.”

He also went onto to say…

“I anticipate a surge in demand for rural and regional luxury homes within two hours of the big cities, like they did post 9/11 as many people reassessed their priorities and lifestyle became top of mind.”

If you’re interested to read more on this insight from John McGrath, here’s a link to the article.

Also, this week I shared a helpful article which features…

5 Ways To Jump Ahead Of The Pack During The Post-Covid-19 Recovery

that you may also like to check out ... here’s a link to that as well...

How’s The Acreage Market?

Currently there are 444 acreage properties For Sale across the entire region. This overall total includes 240 acreage properties For Sale throughout all of The Hawkesbury, 139 in The Hills and another 65 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, another 11 new acreage listings came onto the market and 6 acreages were Sold this week which is a lot more positive that just the single property being sold last week. Also, there’s currently 13 acreage properties ‘Under Contract’ across the region.

Out in the field, this week, there’s been an increase in online enquiry for acreage and I’ve spoken with a lot of buyers who are now ready to buy if they find the right place. I’ve definitely sensed a more positive and optimistic feeling amongst all of the buyers I’ve spoken with in the market this week.

I have a feeling that the insights I shared about ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' as well the Two Biggest Factors Set To Impact Acreage over the next 10 years that I featured in The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) are still well and truely on track.

You can get a FREE copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) at…
www.TheAcreageReport.com.au

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus, you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

Also, this week it looks like we’ll be launching some new ‘Off-Market Acres’ listings, so if you want to get early-bird access to these upcoming acreage properties simply register now at… www.offmarketacres.com.au

When registering for 'Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also receive a bonus copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) and the McGrath Report 2020.

So, with a lot to look forward to in the weeks and months ahead, 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, keep up the great work and bye for now.

.Regards

Greg Vincent

5 Ways To Jump Ahead Of The Pack During The Post-Covid-19 Recovery

You can definitely sense a much more positive mood filtering through at the moment and today I noticed a lot more traffic on the road as well as more people out at Rouse Hill Town Centre.

Over the next few weeks, it looks like there could be a bounce of activity in the acreage lifestyle sector as I previously predicted and as John McGrath announced in his article earlier this week.

There were only 4 people diagnosed with COVID-19 within a 24 hour period and Australia ended up having just 12 new cases of Coronavirus recorded overall on Wednesday despite increased testing, (with cases down from 460 at its peak in late March), Alicia Rouse from The Daily Mail shared the latest insight that…

Australia CRUSHES coronavirus: Just FOUR people are diagnosed with COVID-19 in 24 hours as curve 'heads south' and country is told we could be eased back to normal in three weeks

And with beaches having been re-opened for swimming on Tuesday, a sense of normality is starting to come back into ‘The Australian Way of Life’, but we can’t be too relaxed and we still need to stay the course.

Source: Daily Mail

Source: Daily Mail

It’s sooo good to see how Australian’s have pulled together during this Coronavirus crisis. Well done everyone and HUGE THANKS to all of our amazing Frontline Heroes. This mural in Melbourne says it all.

Moving Today & Beyond Covid-19

Behind-the-scenes we have been taking this opportunity to innovate, improve and refine our marketing strategy during this lock-down period in preparation for the Post-Covid19 recovery, and I am about to hit the ‘Go-Button’ on a new campaign designed to help promote acreage properties more extensively.

If you’d like to find out more about how it works and would like to have your acreage property included in this brand new, innovative, highly cost-effective initiative, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me

Here’s 5 Ways To Jump Ahead During The Post-Covid-19

1: Download a copy of the McGrath Selling Guide: We have updated our information rich Selling a Property guide to include our 11 most popular FAQ’s on selling during COVID-19.

Get your FREE Copy Here

2: Book Appointments with Photographer & Property Stylists : Understand that availability for furniture and bookings for these services will fill up quickly as more listings come onto the market. We can help provide you with guidance and helpful tips throughout this process.

3: Request A Copy Of Contract Be Prepared By Your Conveyancer/Solicitor: Any delay in the preparation of the contract will delay the launch of your property and could mean that there’s more competition in the market. Also, if you have a swimming pool and/or a spa make sure to arrange an inspection for the Pool Compliance or Non-Compliance Certificate which is required to be in the contract.

4: Request A FREE Acreage Appraisal: When selling your greatest asset it’s important that you appoint the best agent possible to ensure that you Maximise The Value Of Your Property.

If you’d like to schedule an Obligation FREE Acreage Appraisal, Click Here

5: Consider The NEW Ways Of Buying Or Selling Acres: There are a number of different options available when buying or selling acreage nowadays. For just one example, see… www.OffMarketAcres.com.au

During this Post-Covid19 period it’s going to be to your advantage to consider ways to get the edge over the rest of the market.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about your property or would like to know ‘How’s The Acreage Market?’

I hope you’ve found this information helpful.

Regards

Greg Vincent

John McGrath Affirms Acreage Lifestyle In Post-Covid 19 Investment Choices

I’ve seen a significant increase to the number of enquiries for acreage lifestyle properties from people thinking about making a move away from the city, which I mentioned in this week’s Acreage Market Wrap…

“As we start to come out the other side of this crisis, a lot of people will be re-assessing their current lifestyle and this week I noticed a large percentage of acreage enquiries were coming from people living in the city who realise that they can work remotely very effectively from a home office.

Many are already starting to look into moving away from the crowded city life as they would much prefer to live and work amongst a more spacious, peaceful, natural surroundings of an acreage or tree-change lifestyle, especially on the outer fringes of the city so they can still commute on the odd-day if required.”

…and earlier today, property expert John McGrath also affirmed acreage lifestyle in Post-Covid 19 investment choices.

As we all spend more time at home due to social distancing and working remotely, there is the opportunity to ponder what is truly important to us and the type of lives we want to lead.  Our homes are a reflection of this, so I see a wave of seachanging and treechanging in our near future. 

Historically, social and economic events of this nature have also been a catalyst for people to reassess their investments. Typically, we see people surge back to property in times of uncertainty. I expect the same will happen again when the dust settles on Covid-19.  

I anticipate a surge in demand for rural and regional luxury homes within two hours of the big cities, like they did post 9/11 as many people reassessed their priorities and lifestyle became top of mind. 

I was out showing the property at 209 Greens Road, Lower Portland which overlooks the Hawkesbury River, where I recorded this Facebook Live video.

I currently have a number of great acreage lifestyle properties available at present and now that ‘the cat is well & truly out of the bag’ about what looks set to happen in the acreage sector Post-Covid 19, now is a good time to get a jump on securing the right escape away from the city life before the large wave of acreage lifestyle buyers begin to flood the market once the isolation restrictions become more relaxed.

Acreage has become very affordable now with interest rates at historically low levels as well as enjoying the additional space, the outdoors home entertainment options like relaxing around a firepit, horse riding, motorbiking and in many cases, you’ll get to enjoy privacy, tranquility plus resort-style living.

As John McGrath also said…

I think the main difference between this period and previous similar events is that everyone is better prepared to withstand the pressures. We are blessed to have some of the best banks in the world presiding over our lending and this has placed us in a stronger position to recover more quickly.  

The government response and stimulus packages have been swift and robust. This should allow most people to move through this with far less pain than they would have otherwise had to endure.

Around the globe, Australian residential property is considered one of the safest assets and now, our weaker currency is providing a 30%-40% discount for many buyers purchasing in other currencies.

When you consider the national measures introduced to limit the spread of the Coronavirus with measures shown starting from the date they were introduced to ten days later, which is a rough estimate of time that researchers from the University of Melbourne believe that they might see the effect of the actions taken on case numbers.

Plus, with NSW having 6 cases of Coronavirus recorded yesterday, when compared to the peak of 212 cases on March 27th, (which was almost double the highest case numbers recorded in Vic of 111 on Mar 28), it looks like NSW has pulled together and have done a brilliant job of flattening the curve. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will see a number of the imposed restrictions reduced. Source: The Guardian

Source: The Guardian

Here at McGrath it’s been business as usual but in an unusual way. There are still a number of buyers out in the market currently taking this opportunity to transact.

Whilst there’s currently fewer buyers in the market, many buyers are taking this opportunity to purchase because they have less competition at the moment, which could change very quickly once the strict COVID-19 restrictions start to become more relaxed.

Whilst sales in the acreage market haven’t been as active as they have been within the housing sector, I anticipate that there will be a lot more buyers in the market Post-Covid 19 looking for an acreage lifestyle.

if you’re thinking of buying or selling acres and would like any additional information about the current trajectory and the future of the acreage market, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.

Regards

Greg Vincent

PS: Make sure you check out the full article from John McGrath about Post-Covid 19 investment choices.

Acreage Market Wrap - 18th April 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 I shared an update from Realestate.com.au Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee who explained Why Australia Won’t See House Prices In “Freefall”.

You see, there are always several micro-markets within each property market which means that suburbs throughout the different states & cities will experience differing, independent outcomes off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.

If you haven’t seen it as yet, her article and short video are definitely worth checking out. Here’s a link to it..

If you’re currently going through a difficult time of embracing the pace of change which has been taking place, you may find the message I shared earlier this week about Embracing Change really helpful. It includes a short video featuring a motivational business fable about understanding how some people embrace change quickly and how others refuse to accept change or get stuck in a rut literally paralysed by fear. Here’s the link to that as well.

Something to be very careful of during this pandemic is that as a society there’s now so much talk about Social Distancing, but, actually I think they’ve got that phrasing incorrect.

You see, it’s actually Physical Distancing that we need to do to continue to stop the spread of Coronavirus, but, distancing yourself away socially can cause much deeper issues.

Fortunately, this crisis has happened in an era where we have social connection tools at our fingertips with technology like Zoom meetings, FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts and apps like House Party which allow us to stay connected during these unprecedented times.

Make sure you reach out to others if you’re feeling a bit isolated or get in contact with friends or family who you may feel could be a bit overwhelmed and are distancing themselves at present. Just a suggestion.

What’s Ahead

It’s been really encouraging to see that exactly a month after the SMH headlines said ‘Australia prepares for 50,000 to 150,000 coronavirus deaths’ that we are now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, especially after Thursday’s headline promoted that ‘Australia on course to eliminate COVID-19, modelling shows’

…and Prime Minister, Scott Morrison shared an insight into Charting Our Way Out Of The Crisis which included some hopeful signs that if we keep flattening the curve, restrictions may get a bit more relaxed within the next four to five weeks, as well as a roll-out of infrastructure projects to help move the Australian economy forward. Here’s a link to that article too.

Also, over the Easter weekend, as predicted the NSW State Government announced a Rent Relief package which provided more certainty for Landlords and reinforced that tenants still have an obligation to pay their rent, which should help to instil more confidence back into the acreage market for property investors in search of land banking opportunities and solid rental yields.

How’s The Acreage Market?

As we start to come out the other side of this crisis, a lot of people will be re-assessing their current lifestyle and this week I noticed a large percentage of acreage enquiries were coming from people living in the city who realise that they can work remotely very effectively from a home office.

Many are already starting to look into moving away from the crowded city life as they would much prefer to live and work amongst a more spacious, peaceful, natural surroundings of an acreage or tree-change lifestyle, especially on the outer fringes of the city so they can still commute on the odd-day if required.

Currently there a total of 440 acreage properties For Sale across the entire region. This overall total includes 243 acreage properties For Sale throughout all of The Hawkesbury, 136 in The Hills and another 61 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, 9 new acreage listings came on the market, but, there were 7 properties withdrawn which means there was only a net increase of 2 properties added to the available stock levels. For those who are currently on the market, there was only the one acreage property Sold this week which means that the market is become more and more competitive. The positive news is that there’s 15 acreage properties currently ‘Under Contract’ across the region, however a large percentage of those appear to be ‘Under Option’ which means that they’re likely to take quite a while to appear in the Sold data.

Out in the field, this week, it’s been business as usual but in an unusual way. I’ve had a number of private inspections on properties and we’ve had over 200 people join in to receive updates about ‘Off-Market Acres’ where Secret Places are Revealed so far since I launched this brand new service at the beginning of April. The response has been much greater than I’d ever anticipated. The whole system works automatically. I receive notifications on my phone and it just keeps ticking over continuously adding more and more leads to my acreage database every single day.

If you’d like to know more information about how to get early access to any of our ‘Off-Market Acres’ listings simply click on the link to register now at www.offmarketacres.com.au

When registering for 'Off-Market Acres’ you’ll also receive a bonus copy of The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) which features an insight into ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' as well as gaining Early-Access to any of the 'Off-Market' acreage listings that we have ‘Coming Soon’.

The Acreage Report features statistics about what's happening in the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market. Plus you also get instant access to a copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features exclusive insights from one of Australia’s leading property experts, John McGrath.

Lastly, if you’re thinking of selling your acreage property, there’s never been a more important time to make sure that your real estate agent is working very closely with their buyer database as well as being fully in-tune with exactly what’s happening in the acreage market, especially during this COVID-19 period.

Someone said to me earlier this week…“

it’s hard to pump up a tyre that has a whole in it”

which is a pretty good analogy of where the market currently sits at the moment, however, it’s important to remember that when you’re buying acreage you should be making your decision based on your life, not based upon the current market.

You see, once the puncture in a tyre gets fixed the vehicle gets back up to speed very quickly and you should take a long term view of the acreage market because there’s a lot of positives that will come out of this current changing landscape which makes the lifestyle of living on acreage more appealing than ever before.

I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years and I’ve experienced enough tough markets to know what happens on the other side of a crisis ...and hopefully there’s still plenty of miles left on my tyres to be able to see what plays out throughout this next decade, because, I can see that there’s definitely some light at the end of this Coronavirus tunnel and there’s a lot on the horizon that we have to look forward to.

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

Positive Signs That Australia Is Charting Our Way Out Of Strict Covid-19 Restrictions

It’s very encouraging to see the that exactly a month after the SMH headlines said ‘Australia prepares for 50,000 to 150,000 coronavirus deaths’ that we are now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, especially after yesterday’s headline which stated that ‘Australia on course to eliminate COVID-19, modelling shows’.

Our Country Looks To Be In Good Hands

During these unprecedented times, the way people show up and how they react under immense pressure really sorts out the men from the boys (or ladies from the girls), and at this point in time, I think our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison has really stepped up and has been an inspirational leader (regardless of which side of politics you vote for) during one of the most uncertain times in our lives.

Whilst we are still a while away from getting through this crisis and we may never actually go back to how things previously were, the bounce in the economy as people begin getting their freedoms back, start going back to work and as infrastructure projects get fast-tracked there will be a positive impact on the current Australian economy.

Last night, Scott Morrison appeared on the 7.30 report and shared an insight into ‘Charting our way out’ which includes some really practical options and an indication that it’s likely we will start to see a relaxing of the restrictions within the next month as well as a roll-out of infrastructure projects to help move the Australian economy forward so that we won’t have to wait for the global economy to recover before we can start reducing our unemployment levels.

Also, when you look at the latest Coronavirus stats across the globe the impact that it’s having on other countries and with many seeing Australia standing out as a safer place to work, trade and live, I anticipate that we will see a lot of foreign investment in the short-medium term as we work our way through this global crisis a lot better than many other countries have to date.

As a friend of mine, Glenn Batten said the other day…

“Australia really has no idea what we avoided. What our health system was spared. Spain has a critical care (ie.. ICU beds) rate 45 times that of Australia and a death rate 175 times that of Australia as their health system was over run. France is 35 times the critical rate and 145 times the death rate. Even the UK has a death rate 80 times higher than Australia. Think about that... It’s not 80 times the number of deaths (they have over 700 deaths per day and we have 60 total) as the UK has a larger population but its death RATE is 80 times higher and still climbing whilst we are declining. The facts are clear, we avoided this because our government acted swiftly and proportionately.“

Additionally, as we come out the other side of this crisis, a lot of people will be re-assessing their current lifestyle and I am already getting a number of enquiries from people living in the city who realise that they can now work remotely very effectively from a home office and they’re looking at moving away from the city and into the more peaceful, natural surroundings of an acreage or tree-change lifestyle on the outer fringes of the city.

It looks like there will be an influx of property coming onto the market as the COVID-19 restrictions are reduced and now could be a good time to try to get in ahead of this influx of listings if you’re thinking of selling.

Also, if you’re looking to buy acreage, there possibly hasn’t been a more affordable time to do so than in the present market due to the historically low interest rates and the current level of acreage stock that is available to purchase at similar prices to pre-election market of 208/2019.

If you have any questions about buying acres or selling your acreage property, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Realestate.com.au Chief Economist explains Why Australia won’t see house prices in “freefall”

Chief Economist for property website Realestate.com.au, Nerida Conisbee shared a valuable insight into how the Coronavirus appears to be impacting the Australian market as well as potential price growth areas.

As Nerida says,

It’s understandable that many Australians expect to see the market behave as it did during previous economic downturns such as the Global Financial Crisis in 2007, which was a financial and demand shock.

Unlike now, previous downturns in Australia have primarily been financially-led, which is the significant differentiating factor. In light of that, there are a number of reasons why Australians shouldn’t expect to see house prices in freefall.

There are always several markets within markets which means that different suburbs across our different states & cities will experience independent, differing outcomes from the Covid-19 pandemic.

For example, it’s likely that many of the people who are currently stuck isolating in confined spaces like in city apartments with no yard or in small homes on very small blocks. Also, top it off with lots of people now working from home, kids stuck at home during the school holidays and a feeling of being overcrowded, once the Coronavirus restrictions are lifted many families will be reconsidering their options and may consider a lifestyle change which has the potential to increase activity in the acreage & tree-change sector.

There are several factors that Nerida Conisbee says will have an impact on the market…

1. The banks are a pillar of support

2. Unemployment will only hit some sectors

3. Some sectors will experience growth

To read the full article click here

Keeping an eye on what’s actually happening behind the scenes, especially from people with access to the data & invaluable insights into online consumer behaviour on a site like realestate.com.au is important to take into consideration when deciding whether to buy or sell at the moment.

I hope you find this article helpful.

Regards

Greg Vincent

A Fitting Message About Embracing Change

I was talking with a mate of mine today, we were discussing how quickly things have changed over these past few weeks and how some people are really struggling with adapting to change, especially changes in the workplace. It reminded me of a book that I read years ago written by Dr Spencer Johnson titled Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

A New York Times business bestseller upon release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over 200 weeks on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list.[1] It has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books.

Below is an animated video which provides a great insight into the storyline of the book. It’s a motivational business fable about understanding how some people embrace change quickly and how others refuse to accept change or get stuck in a rut (playing the blame game change) literally paralysed by fear.

The book ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ takes very little time to read, and even though it was published back in 1998 it is definitely worth reading and revisiting over these coming months to help you get through the challenges ahead.

Below is also an excerpt from an article by Nick Ray about Workplace change – the dangers of not embracing how people adapt which I also found insightful.

Changing the workplace can deliver significant benefits for an organisation and its people, but it takes awareness, conscious effort and commitment to help people work in new ways. Get it wrong and people will be unhappy and will counter the change with adaptive behaviours to gain back control.

When organisations’ change their work environments, people move from a comfortable predicable environment to one with new ‘risks’ and uncertainties. This disruption can result in lower happiness levels and research from BI Worldwide indicates that a lower level of happiness relates to a reduction in people feeling obliged to work hard – something no leader wants.

Change also means teams and individuals will evolve and adapt their behaviour. This response is partly instinctive as we seek to control the ‘risks’ we might be exposed to, but in the office environment this is also about setting ourselves up to effectively and efficiently deliver our work.

The key is making sure your implementation and change management plans identify adaptive behavior, and work with it to deliver a happy, productive team.

There are a lot of changes currently taking place within the workplace and out in the marketplace, and it’s important to adapt quickly and become service focussed as well as solution focus.

Adopting a role model mindset, facing your fears and seeing the Chance within Change is an important

I hope you find this information helpful

Regards

Greg Vincent

SouRce: travelweek.ca

Acreage Market Wrap - 11th April 2020

Hi, and Happy Easter everyone. I hope you and your family are making the most of your Easter Break even though we’re currently in Lockdown.

For those who may not know me, 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?

Earlier this week I shared an update about What Impact The Coronavirus Is Having On The Housing Market? Which included some interesting insights into the possible scenarios and some expert forecasting by Louis Christopher of SQM Research. If you haven’t seen this update as yet and you’re wondering whether you should buy, sell or hold-off from doing anything in this current market, then this article is an absolute must to tune into. I’ll put a link to it underneath this video.

It's been encouraging to see some positive changes announced recently like the NRL announcing that they will be kicking there season off again in about 6 weeks time and figures showing that we are flattening the curve as we continue to do what we can to stop the spread. We all have to stay the course, stay vigilant and ride this thing out as best we can.

There’s been an enormous amount of changes occurring over these past few weeks, with so many new Government announcements, initiatives and restrictions that have direct and indirect impacts on the housing sector along with new Covid-19 operating guidelines which have changed the way that real estate agents are now doing business... and I’ve been busy Re-Imagining, Re-Inventing and Re-Positioning our business so that we can best serve our customers and clients throughout this pandemic and beyond.

You see, during these times it’s important to remember that in business it’s no longer the big who beats the small, it’s the fast that beats the slow and it’s critical to try to stay a step ahead and anticipate changes that could change how we do business today, tomorrow and over these next few weeks and months.

For example, here in NSW, real estate agents can no longer do Open Homes but we can still conduct private inspections. However in the past 48 hours there’s been a restriction imposed on other states which may also potentially come into effect here which will have a big impact on those agents who aren’t prepared for further imposed restrictions.

You see, late on Thursday evening Victorian real estate agents were instructed that they could no longer do private inspections on owner occupied or tenant occupied properties as it forces both the occupants as well as the prospective buyers or prospective tenants to leave home for trips that aren’t within the guidelines that are deemed to be a necessary reason not to remain at home.

Currently the agents in Victoria can only show homes that have been vacated, which has caused a lot of frustration and inspection cancellations throughout the real estate industry down there today and across this Easter weekend.

This new restriction is currently only in place up until the 13th of April, but it may be extended further and it has the potential to eventually become enforced in other states.

The good news is that, property is still being transacted, for example, our team here at McGrath have sold 190 properties in the last week valued at $185 million, which makes our company amongst one the safest options in the market as we have access to more qualified, finance approved buyers

...and after a highly anticipated announcement expected by the NSW Government over the Easter break or early next week regarding a new Rent Relief package, it looks like Property Investors Will Once Again Be Poised To Jump Back Into The Acreage Market.

Also, this week I started putting together a New Acreage Handbook Featuring Important Tips For Buying Acres - (Coming Soon). To assist me in compiling the best information I possibly can, please let me know if you have any questions about buying acres that you would like to see answered in the booklet (and for current acreage owners, even if you’d like to cast your mind back and share some of the questions that perhaps you would've liked answered before you bought you acres). Simply comment below, get in contact with me or send me a message.

How’s The Acreage Market?

Again this week we’ve seen more new acreage listings coming onto the market and only a small number of sales occurring. If the Covid-19 lockdown remains exactly the same it looks like this trend is set to continue, however, if access to properties is restricted then I anticipate that we will see a lot more acreages going up For Sale ‘Off-Market’ and the number of new listings being uploaded onto the property websites like realestate.com.au and domain.com.au may level off over the coming months purely due to accessibility.

Currently there a total of 438 acreage properties For Sale across the entire region. This overall total includes 235 acreage properties For Sale throughout all of The Hawkesbury, 139 in The Hills and another 64 acreages For Sale within Sydney’s North-West acreage areas of Penrith and Blacktown.

This week, another 17 new acreage listings went onto the market but there were only 2 acreage properties Sold this week plus there’s 15 acreage properties currently ‘Under Contract’ across the region, with a percentage of those being ‘Under Option’ which means that they could take quite a long time to appear in the Sold data.

Whilst none of these statistics factor in any acreages that may have been Sold ‘Off-Market’, but when I researched through realestate.com.au it was very interesting to see that the property we sold at 7 Everett Place, Annangrove is the only acreage property that has Sold in The Hills during these past 4 weeks, which indicates that acreage sales appear to have stalled within that area at present.

Out in the field, this week, we launched another property as part of our new ‘Off-Market Acres’ platform where Secret Places Are Revealed. The property is at 309 Fairey Road, South Windsor on over 5 acres of mostly cleared land and has a comfortable 3 BR home plus large workshop, separate studio/office and horse facilities. It’s positioned is in a very convenient location as it backs onto the residential area of Bligh Park as well as the Windsor Park Public School which means that there’s access to public transport right at your back door. The price guide is $1.35m - $1.4m and is a great opportunity for anyone with trucks, equipment, horses, etc and are currently looking to move onto an affordable 5 acres.

If you’d like more information about this property or get early access to any of our ‘Off-Market Acres’ listings simply click on the link below or register now at www.offmarketacres.com.au to access the site plan, watch the extensive Video Walkthrough and download a copy of the contract of sale.

Once you register for 'Off-Market Acres’ you also get instant access to The Acreage Report 2020 (Autumn edition) which features an insight into ‘The Future For Acreage This Decade' and outlines the Two Biggest Factors Set To Impact Acreage over the next 10 years and at the same time you'll get Early-Access to any of the 'Off-Market' acreages coming up.

The Acreage Report also includes statistics about exactly what's happening within the Hawkesbury, Hills & Sydney’s North West acreage market.

Plus you get a bonus copy of The McGrath Report 2020 which features some great insights from property expert, John McGrath.

Lastly, if you’re thinking of selling your acreage, promoting your property’Off-Market’ could be a good way to do a soft-launch to test the level of interest during this Covid-19 period before investing thousands of dollars in a traditional marketing campaign. If you’d like to find out more about how selling ‘Off-Market’ works, take a few moments to look at, www.OffMarketAcres.com.au.

I’ve had a lot of people register to receive updates about ‘Off-Market Acres’ during this past week and our database of qualified acreage buyers keeps increasing each day, which means that I may already be working with just the right buyer for your place and chances are that you could become another one of our clients who get to sell their property ‘stress-free’, without all the usual preparation, worry and added expense that can happen when putting your acreage property on the market. It’s definitely worth looking into!

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, Happy Easter everyone, bye for now.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Property Investors Poised To Jump Back Into The Acreage Market

As I mentioned in this week’s Acreage Market Wrap, “there were a lot of changes announced during this past week which caused a few concerns for property investors, many of whom were looking to move their money across to property on the back of the low interest rates and the falling stock market.

There was some confusion for Landlords around the Rent Relief package released by the Federal Government this week and whilst some tenants thought that because they couldn’t be evicted for 6 months that they no longer had to pay their rent, but that’s certainly not the case.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Tenants have to pay their rent unless they can demonstrate a reason not to. The lease is a contract and the obligations within that contract need to be fulfilled.

The plight of the landlord was completely overlooked in the early stages of the Government's announcement but via some good work done by the REINSW and other industry stakeholders, the difficulties for landlords has been highlighted and more should be announced to resolve this issue early next week.”

As predicted, last night the REINSW President, Leanne Pilkington announced that the State Government have made a decision and the NSW Premier or NSW Treasurer will be making an announcement in the next few days to remove the Moratorium for Residential Tenants in NSW, which means that rents still need to be paid, unless the tenant can show hardship and the State Government plans to release a Rent Relief program for tenants who can’t pay their rent.

Real Estate Coach, Tom Panos caught up with Leanne Pilkington about this decision regarding the rental situation.

This is positive news for existing Landlords, especially Mum & Dad investors who may have bought an investment to help with their future retirement plans (who have investment loan repayment commitments which they rely on the rental income for) along with those who are now looking to invest in bricks and mortar as a safer option compared to the current volatility and unpredictability of the stock market.

There are some excellent opportunities amongst the acreage market for investors at the moment and whilst we are currently experiencing a slight reduction in volume of enquiry, I’m finding that the quality of the buyer enquiry that is filtering through has been of greater quality and are more qualified to purchase.

As I mentioned in a previous article, Investors Appear To Be backing The Property Market In 2020 with interest rates even lower than they ever were and now with the market slowing down over these past few weeks, there’s now a large selection of acreage properties available and overall buying acreage has now become a lot more affordable.

Property is still being transacted, for example, our team here at McGrath have sold 190 properties in the last week valued at $185 million, which makes our company amongst one the safest options in the market as we have access to more qualified,  finance approved buyers.

The way that Australia appears to be reducing the spread of the Coronavirus at present appears that there may not be the need to go into a Stage #4 LockDown like New Zealand did, which would certainly help our economy during this pandemic, but we definitely can’t get too comfortable or complacent.

Over the Easter Break whilst we’d all love to be heading off on a holiday, it’s important that we all pull together and continue to stop the spread.

We have cancelled our planned trip away and I will be available across the Easter weekend to arrange private inspections if you’re on the look out for an acreage property.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling acreage and would like to know more about the numerous options available to you in the current market, don’t hesitate to get in contact with me.

Regards

Greg Vincent

Source: Coulters

New Acreage Handbook Featuring Important Tips For Buying Acres - (Coming Soon)

Buying Acreage: What Would You Like To Know?

:: Hello to All Acreage Buyers as well as Current Acreage Owners :: I'm currently in the process of completing this booklet featuring IMPORTANT TIPS FOR BUYING ACRES. Let me know if you have any questions about buying acres that you would like answered in the booklet (and for current acreage owners, what you would've liked to have been told before you bought)

…anyone who comments will be among the first to receive a copy of the final draft of the booklet before it goes to print.

You can either comment below, or email your questions, thoughts or ideas to me here

Thank You in advance.

Regards

Greg Vincent