"Sydney needs to slow down", FHB's are too scared to look: Charles Tarbey

"Sydney needs to slow down," Charles Tarbey, chairman and founder of Century 21 Australasia, said this week in a quarterly market commentary.

Mostly due to supply issues in certain suburbs of Sydney, Charles Tarbey says there has been over-zealous bidding.

"The agents themselves are absolutely shocked at the prices that are coming through," he said.

He said that valuers were "starting to get a bit gun-shy right now".

"I would say that between the valuers and the banks, and the increased prices that sellers now want based on what they are seeing, I think these things will all slow the market down," Tarbey continued.

"I expected that to happen last year, but it didn't, it just kept rolling on.

"I'm trying to talk the heat of the market, but most agents are unfortunately talking it up, and it's very dangerous."

He said stock was starting to climb.

"It’s just not climbing in certain pockets - that's the problem - and these are the pockets that are being reported on, the ones where the TV cameras are watching all of the Asian buyers apparently purchasing property.

"Tie all that together, and you get the absolutely wrong story.

"If you're wanting to buy your first property in Sydney right now, you'd be too scared to go out and look right now, you'd be thinking ‘what's the point’?

"I know this sounds strange coming from a real estate practitioner, but I really hope that they introduce more macro prudential tools - particularly around investment, and certainly around gearing."