Mosman housing market going from strength to strength

If you reside in NSW, you’d be excused for shaking your head in total disbelief. Not a case of where did they get the money for that? Rather, why is there no money for that? Public transport better in Mumbai than Sydney: PwC report Sydney ranks number four on the list of ‘worst major cities in the world for public transport’. Yet, Sydney is the second most expensive city in the world, which all sounds a bit rich (no pun intended) and for the record, Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. If you look closely at NSW infrastructure, the general rule of thumb is that it is now 20 years behind best practice. So where then did all those billions of tax dollars go?

Housing shortage in NSW to reach 140,000 in four years, which would explain statistics that show 30 percent of NSW dwellings are now rented. This just happens to be the highest recorded figure since 1958. Figures from RP Data show new rental listings dropped from 45,365 in the four weeks ending September 9 to 34,591 in the four weeks ending October 7. Rental listings down in every state in past month: RP Data NSW dropped from 12,390 to 9,018 – the figure was 11,560 this time last year.

Let’s be honest here – governments are not that smart. It’s almost impossible to entice property developers in NSW when Mumbai offers better transport than NSW. While Sydney is on top of the property rich list with 19 of Australia’s most expensive 25 suburbs, they don’t really rely on public transport. It should be noted that Canberra’s big balancing act could hit negative gearing. Should this happen and investors bail, our rents will skyrocket. Real estate markets need investors as do the third of Australians who are currently in rental accommodation.

Housing demand on the rise as population growth at highest rate in three years: Tim Lawless,which is a compound property dilemma considering our record low interest rates will (not could) create a ‘mini-Sydney’ property boom. Rents are escalating at the highest rate and that in turn drives new purchasers into the marketplace – even though they may not want to be there. This could add air to a housing bubble. Forget the global financial crisis. The ineptitude of Australian governments could well deliver a recession identical to that of the early 1990s.

Two graphs I grabbed this week identify the problems Australia faces.

The Mosman housing market is going from strength to strength and Mosman houses today are 22% down on the numbers offered this week last year. I predict that over the coming weeks, this figure will climb as high as 40%. Heaven forbid: after years of that horrible GFC, we are now seeing a vendors’ market for houses. Who would have thought?

Robert Simeon is a director of Richardson  Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. He has also been writing real estate blogVirtual Realty News since 2000. The RWM real estate model has sold in excess of $1 billion in database sales globally.