Property vendors are nervous. Will prices keep falling? Do they need to sell as soon as possible to avoid further falls? Should they agree to negotiate to minimise the damage?
These are the thoughts going through many property sellers’ minds and it offers up opportunity for buyers to negotiate big discounts.
When we talk about property discounts we refer to the difference between the marketing campaign sale price and the actual final sale price.
Buyers’ agents are saying the asking price for properties stuck on the market long term are being heavily discounted – sometimes by as much as 40 per cent.
“The market has steadied up,” Caine Real Estate’s Paul Caine told Australian Financial Review.
“It is creating opportunities for buyers wanting to move into a prestige suburb.”
Emma Bloom is a director at buyers’ agency Morrell and Koren and told AFR often the suburbs that experienced the big gains during the recent boom in Melbourne are the ones offering big discounts and getting in there to negotiate could pay big dividends.
Buyers’ agent for Cate Bakos here in Melbourne said not all suburbs were experiencing price discounts.
“Discounts are not across the board,” she said.
“Quality A-grade properties in coveted postcodes that have no negatives still hold up well,” she told AFR.
“Flawed or compromised properties are more difficult to sell in markets where buyers can be more choosy.”
A ‘floored or compromised’ property could be a property that has a poor floor plan, be on a busy road location, have small bedrooms and so on and can be good targets for buyers chasing discounts.
Possible giveaways that a vendor might be open to negotiate their property include:
The property has been on the market long term (12 months or more)
Locations that have a lot of new apartment construction and sales
Existing price reductions
Forced sale or sale under distress
The real estate agent has changed (Can be checked online)
Agent is willing to negotiate a sale before auction day
Market trend indicators
