Expats warned top listings might not yet be online

Expat buyers should be aware that many of the homes available for sale are not yet listed on the internet.

These are properties that estate agents or buyers’ agents know have vendors willing to sell in the new year that have yet to advertised.

Peter Kelaher of PK Property Search and Negotiators says that a large proportion of the transactions negotiated by his firm are silent sales. 

“Agents call us to say that a property is going on the internet in a month’s time,” says Kelaher.

Despite the softer auction statistics, inner Sydney agents are recording a significant amount of sale activity away from the Saturday auction limelight.  

Anthony Birdsall at Laing Real Estate said his agency was seeing good stock sell through private treaty negotiations.

The penny was dropping that inner Sydney apartment prices don’t seem to be going down in a hurry as competition remains for premium offerings, he said.

Some agents in some suburbs around Sydney have noted fewer overseas buyers, meaning less competition for expats in their acquisitions.

It can be traced back to then Treasurer Joe Hockey's crackdown on illegal foreign property investment, with new rules now meaning substantial fines for real estate agents, conveyancers and migration agents who knowingly assist illegal purchases.