Sydney’s Lower North Shore kicked off 2015 with a bang. Our four offices in this region (Neutral Bay, Mosman, Northbridge and Chatswood) reported a strong start in January, with February a record month for the group, with a total sales volume of close to $160 million across the four offices. The local market this year has been incredibly buoyant across all segments and price ranges, from $800,000 apartments to luxury $8,000,000 waterfront homes. Buyers have been out in force and very much on the front foot, with many buyers making offers early on in the campaign. As far as the top end of the market, it is alive and well.

Despite the negative press around the outlook of the Australian economy, buyers are upbeat about the property market. I genuinely believe the main driver of this is the record low interest rates. We have not seen rates this low since 1978 and buyers are taking full advantage of the cheap money. Low interest rates are driving strong demand in the lower end with buyers purchasing properties for investment and enjoying, in many cases, positively geared investment properties. We have seen huge growth in this segment of the market. In February I sold an apartment at 3/28 Ridge Street, North Sydney where we had 25 registered bidders a reserve at $650,000 and the apartment sold in a heated contest for $736,000.

Another growing trend here on the Lower North Shore is the Chinese buyer market. At McGrath we have ‘The China Desk,’ a dedicated team of agents servicing Chinese buyers and sellers. The expertise of our ‘China Desk’ was integral in two of my recent sales to Chinese buyers. However international interest is up in general due to the devaluation of the Australian dollar. I had another sale in February worth mentioning. I tried to sell 112a Young Street, Cremorne via auction in late 2013 when we marketed it at over $3.5 million. At the time we managed to achieve an offer for our vendor at $3.4 million however it just wasn’t enough for my client to sell. It was a totally different experience when I auctioned this year when we had two buyers competing for the property in the first two weeks. Buyer number one was a local buyer and buyer number two was a mainland Chinese buyer immigrating to Australia. The property ended up selling to the local buyer for $3.8 million. What a difference a year makes!

There is no doubt this is one of the strongest markets I have witnessed in my 18 year real estate career. Looking ahead, I believe that while rates remain low and demand outpaces supply, the Lower North Shore market will continue to be strong.