As an agent, there is one thing you can be sure of at Christmas and that’s the question, “How’s the market?”.
It comes at least once at every party. It’s a part of our Aussie DNA. So to save all of those conversations and discuss more important things like, “Are the Wallabies on a genuine rebuild?”, or “Should they make ‘Bluey World’ a permanent structure?”, I’ll give you the overview.
As a broad view, 2024 was another strong year for residential real estate. What does that mean? It means that prices were higher at the end of the year than at the start of the year. There were a few stronger performers. One and two bedroom units performed the strongest, due to the lack of alternatives because of the cost of construction. Also, the reality is they are cheaper than houses so affordability forced them to the front. The prestige market also performed very well as the cost to construct, in many cases, is above the price of resale.
Surprisingly, three bedroom units were not as strong in the resale space – those units people call ‘70s style brick’. They were good, but not compared to the heat of two bedroom units. If you paid a little bit more, you got great value with the three bedroom units in comparison. Next year, interest rates are expected to hold or slightly drop and construction costs will likely remain high. The only event that could have an effect on the market is the federal election in the back half of the year.
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