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Navigating the competitive Sydney market

ByAndrew Mirams

Get your finance sorted early

One of the biggest mistakes is rushing off to find your dream home without having a clear and accurate sense of how much you can spend.

Before you get carried away, sort out your mortgage pre-approval. This will help guide your search and ensure you’re not overcommitting. It will also give you an idea of what your monthly repayments will be, so you can start shaping your new budget.

Let us manage the process for you, giving peace and mind and eliminating a whole lot of stress and uncertainty. A savvy and experienced mortgage broker can search out the best loan for your circumstances, negotiate the best rate, and streamline the approval process.

Pre-approval also shows agents and vendors that you’re serious and ready to get a deal done. It might just give you an edge over your competitors who are yet to secure financing.

But best of all, it means you’re able to act quickly when you find a place you love and can afford. Hesitating because your ducks aren’t in a row could see you get beaten at the post.

Research the market

Knowledge is power and nowhere is this truer than in the world of real estate. Before you rush in, spend time getting to know the market.

And not just Sydney broadly, but individual suburbs in the patch you’re interested in. Compare recent sales, look at recent and long-term price trends, see how long homes are on the market, find out the clearance rate and research rent returns.

Go to a few auctions to see what the temperature is like on the ground. Take note of how often new properties are being listed. See if lots of homes are selling before auction day.

All of those bits of insight can reveal a good picture of supply and demand dynamics at a hyper-local level.

Real estate portals like Domain and realestate.com.au are treasure troves of rich data. Make good use of them.

Get to know local areas

When people talk about ‘the Sydney market’, they’re really describing countless micro markets. Bondi and Bankstown are two very different real estate patches.

Spend time in the suburbs you’re keen on. Take note of what you see. Are lots of homes being renovated? Is there decent development activity? How many hip cafes are there, and are more on the way? 

Talk to locals you encounter about what it’s like to live in their patch. How are things changing? Are they shifting for the better?
And if an area is out of your price range, look to see what’s available in the next door suburbs. You’ll be close enough to all the amenities that caught your eye, and chances are those neighbouring addresses will be the next to lift.

Speak to real estate agents

Buyers tend to be a bit suspicious of chatty real estate agents, and that’s fair enough. But don’t ghost them completely. They can be really useful to house-hunters.

Some properties in Sydney sell before they even hit those listing websites. Good relationships with agents might see you get the heads up about an off-market and pre-market listing. They can also keep you clued in about what’s in the pipeline so you’re one step ahead of your competition.

Make yourself known to those working the area you like. Be pleasant, explain your needs and wants, and be front-of-mind for them.

Be ready to pounce

Sydney can be a fast market, so don’t risk missing out because you aren’t prepared. When you find somewhere you love, you need to be able to act quickly.

In addition to having your mortgage pre-approval, have a conveyancer ready to go. Ask them what documentation you’ll need and dig it out, so you’re not searching for a birth certificate – and then a justice of the peace – at the last minute. Figure out how you’ll pay the deposit when you sign.

Prepare to bid

If you’re going to auction and it’s a whole new world, don’t lose your head. Auctions are daunting by nature – and can move quickly – so brace yourself.

Go to a couple of auctions you don’t intend to compete in. Watch closely. Take note of the different strategies others use – bidding early and confidently to establish dominance, or hanging back and playing it cool until towards the very last moment. Think about which might suit particular scenarios.

And whatever you do, don’t go into an auction without a very clear game plan. Set your maximum bid and stick to it.

Don’t lose heart

You might get your hopes dashed a few times, but that’s all part of the process. Buying a home in Sydney isn’t for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure.

But with the right preparation, you can put yourself in the strongest possible position to beat the competition.

Get your finance sorted, do your homework, know where you’re looking, make some connections, and be ready to pounce.

Ready to give yourself the ultimate advantage? Contact a mortgage broker today!

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Andrew Mirams
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