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John and Sue Butler at their Dutton Terrace, Medindie home which is being auctioned this Saturday. Sept 3, 2020. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The state’s peak selling season officially kicks off today, with SA homebuyers springing into action and hopeful sellers shaking off their winter doldrums.

Harcourts Packham director James Packham says a slower winter market and low listings boded for a strong start to spring.

“Suppressed stock levels and steady demand has meant that great prices are being achieved, and many homes are spending far less time on the market,” he said.

“Prevailing market conditions are bringing out the most genuine and motivated buyers that we have seen for some time.

“Many of our clients are speaking to us about escalating their plans to sell before the full effect of JobKeeper’s cessation can be felt, to give themselves the best chance of achieving a premium price for their home.

“The advice we are sharing with our clients is simple – if you have any intention of selling your home in the next 12 months, you need to be engaging a professional now to help navigate the waters ahead.”

Real estate agents are gearing up for a big spring after coronavirus stalled the autumn and winter market.

According to the latest Valuer-General’s figures for the June quarter showed Adelaide’s market performed strongly, Adelaide’s metro house value have held steady over the past quarter – dropping just 0.52 per cent to $477,500 – a strong performance considering the havoc wreaked on the industry by coronavirus lockdowns.

Metro home values also coincidentally dropped by the same amount on the same quarter last year. Statewide, the median house value climbed by 0.47 per cent over both the past 12 months and quarter to $432,000.

According to realestate.com.au data, there are currently 6362 private treaty properties on the market, and another 156 scheduled for auction.

Of this total, 663 launched just this week.

Williams Real Estate agent Hamish Mill said the market is active and spring looked set to be strong.

“These are very exciting times – we are very busy and the market is running red hot right now as we go into our busiest time of the year,” he said

Mr Mill said auctions were delivering good results and expects enthusiastic bidding at a 33 Dutton Tce, Medindie villa he is auctioning this morning.

“As with a number of auctions I’ve held recently, we have several registered bidders and I’m expecting to see fast and spirited bidding,” he said.

John and Sue Butler are selling their Medindie home through Mr Mill and said they were confident the time was right to sell.

“We thought spring time was the best time, especially with the uncertainty during the coronavirus period,” Mr Butler said.

“The market looks like its held up well in terms of price and people still seemed to want to buy and we thought it was worth having a go.

“We’re hopeful it sells and, with the pool, it would be a great home for someone to enjoy throughout spring and summer.”

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The post Market springs back from winter slump appeared first on realestate.com.au.

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

It’s been a much loved family home for three decades, and now it’s time for another family to move in and enjoy the grand entertainer Ric Anderson and Rebecca Giles have created for themselves in a stunningly restored Malvern villa.

“It’ll be 30 years ago in January that we bought it and we were married about three or four months after purchasing it, so it was a bit of a wedding present for each other – we fell in love with the place instantly,” Mr Anderson says. “Our kids have been born and raised here, and the only reason we’re leaving is because we’ve got the harebrained scheme to do a total seachange and are now heading down south because I love to surf and that will allow us to enjoy that lifestyle in retirement.

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

“About 14 years ago we decided we wanted to improve the back of the house and increase the amount of accommodation upstairs for our two daughters, and the intention of the renovation and extension was to maintain the integrity of the existing home right around the entire house. So we engaged Pauline Hurren, who is very known for her heritage work, and asked her to make it a seamless transition from old to new, and she did, all the way down to her hand-picking the stone from a quarry at Basket Range.

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

“While she did it at a ground level, we also went up into the ceiling space and, with the use of taller windows, she created a really spacious living area, two double bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. It’s been pretty cool in the past few years, with our daughters getting older they’ve been able to have friends over and enjoy their time upstairs and we can get on with our lives downstairs.

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

“The guy who worked out all those angles on the upper level was here for about six months – it was a long-winded process but worth doing because we wanted to get it right and were planning on being here for 20 or 30 years.”

The home has up to four bedrooms – the master suite on the ground floor and complete with a built-in robe and access to an award-winning luxurious family bathroom with a feature bath and a fireplace. Formal dining and living rooms sit at the front of the home, while an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area sits at the rear, opening to a covered terrace. A spacious living area is set on the upper level, and the home also has a cellar and a double carport.

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

“I’ve been in the wine industry all my life and we’ve had plenty of dinner parties here,” Mr Anderson says. “This house is great for entertaining because that formal dining room is amazing, and we can have brunches and lunches in the back living area, and in summer we spend a lot of time on the back porch enjoying the ambience out there. We’ve spent a lot of time getting the garden up to scratch and have done that all ourselves – we’ve done this from a very personal point of view and hopefully that reflects quality from the front gardens right through the whole house.”

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

Mr Anderson says the home’s layout and location has been perfect for his family and he hopes it will be enjoyed by another.

“We picture the sort of people who might fall in love with this place as we did might be newly married or have a young family and want to take advantage of having a beautiful home in a great location which is so convenient to everything,” he says. “We’ll take our memories with us – and if we had our time again – all those 30 years ago when we poked our head through the fence and fell in love with the place – we’d do exactly the same thing all over again.”

117 Cambridge Terrace, Malvern. Supplied by Williams Real Estate.

117 Cambridge Tce, Malvern

Contact agent for price

Agent: Williams Real Estate, Rhys Gebethner 0408 878 835, Stephanie Williams 0413 874 888.

Land size: 673sqm.

Expressions of interest: Close Wednesday, September 23 at 5pm.

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The post Attention to detail key to renovation triumph in Malvern appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Blue-chip areas in Canberra’s inner circle have predictably dominated the city’s list of priciest locations, but a couple of surprise suburbs have ascended into the latest top 10.

New data from realestate.com.au reveals the most expensive suburbs in Canberra for the 12 months to 30 July 2020, which includes sought-after central, inner south and inner north locations, as well as entries from Woden and Weston Creek.

Old-Canberra stalwart Red Hill topped the list with a median sale price of $1.6 million, up 10 per cent year-on-year.

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A home on Mugga Way in Red Hill sold for $8 million in March.

Neighbouring Griffith ($1,455,000) and Deakin ($1,375,000) came in second and third, respectively.

Last year’s number one, Yarralumla, dropped to fourth position with a median sale price of $1,350,000, followed in order by Campbell, Ainslie, O’Connor and Narrabundah.

The ninth and tenth spots went to two unexpected additions from outer districts: Isaacs ($965,000) and Chapman ($963,750).

Red Hill has a median of $1.6 million.

Suburbs must have had at least 30 sales to qualify, which is why some of the city’s tightly held premium areas didn’t make the list.

Red Hill’s higher median sale price was affected by a record-making $8 million sale on the suburb’s Golden Mile in March this year.

Bill Lyristakis, Berkely Residential – Kingston, the selling agent for 25 Mugga Way, said there were many attributes that made Red Hill “the most valuable in suburb in Canberra”.

Chapman has experienced strong price growth.

“It’s split into two parts: old Red Hill, which is made up of large holdings that were given to senior public servants in the 1930s and ‘40s, where they kept orchards, chickens etc. As times progressed, [the blocks] have not been reconsolidated and are still around 4000-5000sqm – some even up to 11,000sqm,” Mr Lyristakis said.

“In the new part of Red Hill, blocks are about 1000-1100sqm. So it’s largely in part to the inner south location but also the land holdings.

“You can get larger homes, really large blocks, tennis courts, pools … they’re really sought-after.”

Chapman in Weston Creek has experienced strong price growth across the last few years to ascend to tenth position.

Jonathan Irwin, director of Irwin Property and Chapman resident, said the suburb’s median price was “around $750,000 three years ago” and has become popular for its peaceful lifestyle offering.

Griffith has a median price of $1.455 million.

“I live in Chapman and I think one of the nicest aspects is that it’s elevated and on the northern side of the hill, Cooleman Ridge, which gives beautiful northern light and views,” Mr Irwin said.

“Then you’ve got the nature reserve, generous big blocks, nice gardens and lots of interesting architectural styles.

“It’s easy to just jump in the car to go to the shops, but you can walk or ride to nature. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Chapman’s median sale price now sits at $963,750 – up 3 per cent year on year.

The post Surprise additions to Canberra’s 10 priciest suburbs shows broad growth appeared first on realestate.com.au.

COVID-safe and with a view – G.01/3 East Crescent St, McMahons Point.

One of the best weapons against contracting COVID-19 is avoiding close social interaction, especially in confined spaces.

The virus is known to be contracted through touching surfaces touched by infected people, so we’ve all become well versed in the regular use of antibacterial hand rub and wipes, and minimising what we touch outside the home.

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Sydney home comes with cool outdoor cinema

But if you live in an apartment, getting into your home can be fraught with COVID challenges, from pushing the button on the lift, to sharing the lift and even touching communal doorhandles.

Take a look at this apartment, which could be one of Australia’s most COVID-safe when it comes to entries. And it even has a harbour view.

Here you can get in and out of your home without sharing a lift or stairwell, or even touching a communal button or door handle. You won’t even have to share the floor with neighbours.

Your own garage and lift.

Multiple living spaces inside and out.

Privacy is a big feature.

In fact you won’t even have to share the garage.

Meet G.01/3 East Crescent Street, McMahons Point, a four-bedroom garden apartment in the boutique block The Bradfield.

The whole-floor garden apartment has an impressive floor plan brimming with bespoke features and covered outdoor living space.

The terrace looks out over landscaped gardens and lawn, and the views travel across Lavender Bay to the city.

Stellar view.

There are multiple living zones.

The home cinema.

Features include a Calacatta marble kitchen with bespoke cabinetry, a Miele suite of

appliances and a Siemens 90cm gas cooktop, home office, home cinema and high-tech biometric facial and fingerprint security.

The luxury apartment is for sale by private treaty with a guide of $7.95 million, and is being marketed by Adrian Bridges and Taylor Jones, of LJ Hooker Avnu.

The kitchen.

Formal dining.

Sweet dreams.

Mr Bridges said the apartment was attracting plenty of attention, particularly from downsizers. The private garage and lift, as well as the high-tech security, were major drawcards, especially in this COVID-conscious climate.

“It’s a world-class development,” he said.

“It is virtually touch free getting into the apartment and the security and privacy are big features. You’re not going through common areas, or using lifts or walkways. It has a lot of appeal.”

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The post McMahons Point apartment offers impressive level of COVID protection appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Unit supply is expected to drop. Photo: iStock

Sydney apartment supply is set to shrink over the next few years as projects are cancelled or pushed back because of poor buyer demand extenuated by the pandemic slowdown.

Apartment construction activity in Sydney peaked at around 8000 apartments per quarter in early 2017. But unit construction is currently continuing through a period of decline. Assuming all currently marketed off the plan projects proceed, it has been forecast that residential construction in Sydney will fall to less than 2000 units per quarter from late next year.

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It will therefore create likely issues of undersupply, according to a new comprehensive report.

In the meantime, Sydney faces the challenge of finding buyers for an estimated 18,000 apartments that are set for completion in 2020-2021.

Supply will be concentrated in the middle suburbs, which will account for 45 per cent of the total, followed by the outer region with 25 per cent. Only 7 per cent of total completions will occur in the central city region.

Off the plan sales peaked in 2016 then slowed through 2017 before declining more sharply from 2018 as investors retreated amid more stringent lending practices after the Hayne Royal Commission, and higher interest rates being applied to investors.

Foreign investor demand was curtailed by the NSW state government foreign buyer stamp duty surcharge as well as capital controls by the Chinese Government limiting outbound investment.

Low population growth is having a major impact. Photo: iStock

Angie Zigomanis, director of research and strategy Charter Keck Cramer, reckons green shoots in off the plan demand had begun to emerge toward the end of 2019. However, the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown have caused “significant ructions” in the rental and investor market. He said demand for apartments in metropolitan Sydney has historically been underpinned by a combination of high house prices and strong population growth driven by high net overseas migration.

However, occupier demand is weakening as the international border closure caused by the COVID-19 lockdown causes net overseas migration inflows to collapse.

The closure of international borders has caused a significant reduction in tenant demand and local landlords have added to the supply by marketing their short stay apartments as long term rentals.

“A moratorium on evictions has thus far prevented a large exodus from rental apartments although landlords will likely face lower rental income as rents are renegotiated,” Mr Zigomanis said. “As the economy contracts, the sharp rise in unemployment will constrain the ability of many tenants to pay rent.”

High unemployment will also hurt the market.

Supply remains high with 22,500 apartments completed in Metropolitan Sydney over the past year to June, the fourth highest on record. Some 60 per cent of completions were within the middle region, with many still for sale.

Project launches in FY2020 show a greater proportion of apartments in larger projects. The proportion of apartments in buildings of 300-plus apartments has increased from three per cent of completions to 14 per cent.

In FY2020, there were a total of 5300 apartments in projects that commenced marketing, reflecting a dramatic fall from the 23,500 apartments launched in FY2018.

The post Sydney apartment supply set to shrink in coming years due to pandemic driven demand drop appeared first on realestate.com.au.