The Australian Financial Review released an article last week with the headline "Property price correction could be over in months"

The article focussed on the fact that price falls over January and February have slowed to a point where they question if we are at or near the bottom of price falls.

Whilst the article, which we have as our feature story last week, has some interesting points for consideration, it is the thoughts brought to us this week by Westpac that should give every property enthusiast hope of further gains in the medium to long term.

As we know, there are two sides to the residential property market: the owner occupier market and the investor market.

With sales prices falling across the board, it is interesting to note that rents continue to climb. With this in mind it would be easy to presume that investors would now be coming back into the marketplace in the knowledge that not only have purchase prices fallen, but rents are continuing to rise. Unfortunately this has not yet happened.

An extremely encouraging sign for our sellers is the increased inspection numbers that we have witnessed so far throughout February.

In the last week for example, we have had well over 400 inspections on our properties resulting in close to 50 written offers.

The cumulative effect of these inspections and offers has been that 13 of our listings went under contract over the past week which is our best weekly result so far in 2023.

With interest rates rising again last week, the gap between what a seller wants and what a buyer is prepared to pay ( or can afford to pay) continues to widen.

Whilst this pattern is typical of all property downturns, the harsh reality is that many sellers have already declined an offer that they are unlikely to see again. A decision that they will most likely regret as prices continue to decline.

With the first month of 2023 now behind us, new data released by CoreLogic shows that the pace of property price declines is now slowing.

Whilst January is traditionally a quieter property month, the data shows that prices across the country have now fallen by a combined 8.9% since reaching their peak in mid 2022.

Our sellers need us to find the best buyers in the marketplace and create that fear of missing out that had been such a strong part of the property market throughout 2021 and early 2022 by putting those buyers in competition with each other.

I have the process to do that but patience is also what we need.

The average time it takes to sell a property in any given location has always been a leading indicator in measuring the strength or weakness of a property market.

By using our own office data and by reviewing realestate.com and CoreLogic research, a clear picture of the changing nature of our market becomes apparent.

The completed 2022 Calendar year saw some significant momentum changes in the property market.

Whilst the majority of our report this week includes our early 2023 statistics and property information from around the country, it is our own 2022 data that gives us an insight into what trends have arisen in the Central Gold Coast area. These trends look set to continue through at least the early part of 2023..

With Christmas day being next Sunday this report will be the last one for 2022!

It's interesting to note how much the market has changed over the course of the year. I recently posted results highlighting our own office figures profiling the month of November for the previous four years. If we dig deeper and just focus on the past 12 months, RP Data (CoreLogic) have now updated their suburb price graphs for the past year. These graphs are arguably the best demonstration of what has happened in the market over the past 12 month period.

It's inching closer and closer to Christmas...I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

A shorter note from me today, as the latest interest rate rise was the main point of attraction last week. Please see below newspaper reports, online articles and video content from the past week. Also below is an article published this week on what the RBA's latest interest rate rise means for Australian property owners.

We have a lot of statistical information for you this week but arguably the most interesting is our own historical office data.

The findings provide some interesting reading.

We all understand how long it takes for property sales to be officially recorded in our marketplace.

From the time a property goes under contract through to the date of settlement, government records can then take a further few months to officially record the sale.

It's interesting to note that after discussions with other agents involved in several of this week's sales, the clear difference now is that sellers appear to be understanding that a buyers' financial capability has significantly decreased over the past 6 months. It is this additional financial burden on buyers that is driving the price falls we are now seeing.

Predictions on what's ahead for the property market are always dangerous but an article that appeared in the Australian Financial Review was a really good practical analysis of what may lay ahead.

We all understand the significant role that interest rates play in the property market.

With the reserve bank choosing to increase rates by just 0.25% at the beginning of October, many potential buyers saw this smaller than expected increase as a sign that the larger rate increases that we had seen leading up to October were now behind us.

We spend a lot of time discussing whether property prices are rising or falling. Whilst it is natural to focus on the overall outcome, there are several key fundamentals that cause prices to rise and fall that determine the direction of property prices.

The key fundamental influencing the property market at present is interest rate movements.

Last Friday a report specifically written for the Gold Coast property market was released by The Urban Develop.

The Urban Developer report focussed on all aspects of our property market including median prices, the latest rental market information for landlords and tenants as well building approval numbers, home loan approvals and price forecasts moving forward.

An article released on Saturday by the Gold Coast Bulletin discusses how the Gold Coast property market has so far managed to defy the National property downturn.

It's interesting to note that in the report, Bonogin was highlighted as the best performing suburb on the Gold Coast over the July to September quarter whilst acreage property in Tallebudgera Valley and Tallai were also amongst the best performing suburbs.

The latest REA statistics for the period ending September 30 were released on Saturday. Whilst the findings are not surprising, they do show just how far the market has slowed.

Last week, Queensland's new land tax dominated news in the real estate space.

Whilst the focus has been on how this will increase an investors overall costs on an investment portfolio, the flow on effect to both renters and future owner occupier sellers is now becoming more apparent.