An article that appeared in Saturday's Gold Coast Bulletin gives us an insight into the current state of play in our local market. Whilst the GC Bulletin report discusses the most recent PropTrack report using statistics up to and including July, the numbers being reported are consistent with what we are seeing and experiencing out in the field up at present.

With the month of August now completed, we have access to a considerable amount of data and news articles that focus on the property market. Whilst many of these stories are featured below, our lead story last week comes from the latest Corelogic research that discusses the fact that some parts of Australia are now seeing property values falling by around $1000 per day.

Following on from the week before updates from the NAB & ANZ, this week the Commonwealth Bank put forward their thoughts.

The Commonwealth Bank findings, which we are featuring in this week's report, suggest that the fall in property prices is likely to reach the bottom sooner than first predicted and then recover earlier than initially expected.

We are currently witnessing a pattern in the property market that has never been seen before and is unlikely to be seen again.

In previous downturns, the major driver behind price falls was a glut of forced sales that pushed property prices down.

In the current market, it is a reduction in borrowing capacity that is forcing prices lower, however I am happy to report some areas seem to be staying firm with prices staying strong.

On paper, our office had a much better week last week when it comes to a mix of the overall results. For the month we have seen twenty four properties go under contract. which is a solid result in a market that is clearly declining numbers of people commiting to buy.

When looking at each sale, it is clear that buyer sentiment is considerably lower than it was just a few short months ago. Our contracts for August best illustrate this.

This week's report features CoreLogic's National Home Value Index report for July. There is now a clear pattern emerging that is showing market activity is continuing to slow. When reading the CoreLogic report, please take into account that the figures that the CoreLogic report analyses are settled transactions.

I have mentioned in previous emails that I am a big fan of Tom Panos and his experiences out in the field. Tom is a well known, international real estate trainer and auctioneer in Sydney. I listen to his daily podcasts plus his weekly updates as he has a wealth of knowledge and insight to the current market that the changes that we are experiencing.

Whilst it has been difficult to find positive news stories on the property front of late, an article that appeared on realestate.com.au shines a light on one pool of buyers that are tipped to help underpin prices in the face of rising interest rates and declining consumer confidence.

With consumer confidence continuing to weaken due to worrying inflation and interest rate rises, Friday's updated interest rate outlook by the CBA will only add to the uncertainty.

Well, with a glut of research and articles released since the end of the financial year, clear patterns are now emerging within the property market. It has become clear that interest rate rises and a sharp decline in consumer confidence is now having a significant effect on both property prices and number of sales.

With the 2021-2022 financial year now complete, we turn our attention to the stats and articles that discuss what has happened over the previous 12 months and importantly what is happening now.

Whilst we have seen property reports coming through from around the country suggesting that the market is transitioning across to a buyers market, it has been our own office data last week that we have needed to focus on and dissect.

Whilst there has been an extensive amount of articles written in the last week discussing the current state of the property market, the information carrying the most weight comes from the monthly Herron Todd White valuers property report.

An article released last Friday is a call to action for all agents and gives us a clear insight into exactly how we can best serve our clients moving forward. The article with the heading "CBA predicts 15% home price drop due to faster and higher rate hikes" has for the first time declared that the Queensland property market will suffer the same price declines that had, until now, only been predicted for Southern markets.

Whilst the property market is officially listed as falling across the country, the Gold Coast is still showing signs of resilience when compared to many other key markets. Official figures from Corelogic last week showed that prices across the country have declined in May with further interest rate rises expected to accelerate the declines as we move towards the back end of 2022.

An article released this week by realestate.com.au discussed the predicted ramifications of interest rate rises moving forward. With the election now behind us, the next four weeks will likely give us an insight into where the property market is heading.

Our experiences over the past month suggest that market conditions are changing quickly. This is best illustrated by the fact that our open home attendee numbers this month are currently down by almost 30% when compared to April.

What a week ! Following on from the weekend election, last week's report focuses on the Labor party's major property policies. In addition to this we look at HTW Valuers latest monthly report for the month of May 2022 and we also dive into the RBA's latest findings which suggest interest rate increases will be front of mind for the remainder of 2022 with a 0.40% now likely in June.

Last week the Urban Developer released a report encompassing data up to and including the end of April 2022. The information in the report is predominantly based on sales that took place during 2021 due to the fact that government departments have a three month lag between settlements occurring and results being published.

From a real estate perspective, whilst we always try to find a balance between positive and negative property information each week, it's fair to say that last week has been a challenge.

The vast majority of articles produced over the past seven days have discussed reduced affordability, further interest rate rises and likely price falls.

Our role as agents has always been to look after our sellers and that will clearly remain our focus however I sit here now and ask myself how would I feel reading the current negativity in the media if I were a buyer?

This week we have a collection of newspaper and online articles that all seem to be focusing on the impact that interest rate rises will have on the property market.

Whilst no-one can ever be sure of what the market will do moving forward, if a vendor/seller had ambitions of selling in the short to medium term, it would seem prudent to take advantage of what is left of the current buyer activity and sell now.