Wait and see for property listings and sales at Blue Mountains
There were $200 million in house listings in the Blue Mountains municipality before this month's bushfire onset, with much of this envisaged transactional business on hold due to the understandable concerns of the vendors, the buyers and the listing agents.
Prices of the 400 listed houses ranged from $225,000 at Katoomba to $3.7 million at Wentworth Falls, according to RP Data.
The most dominant offering were the 140 three bedroom homes at a $390,000 median asking price.
The 130 four bedroom offerings came at a $510,000 median asking price.
Australian Property Monitors data shows that between 1998 and 2003, house price growth in the Blue Mountains actually outperformed the Sydney market.
But in the ensuing decade, it has been the second-worst performing Greater Sydney region, behind the NSW central coast for price growth.
The Blue Mountains attracts price conscious commuters, along with the lifestyle buyer and weekender crowd. Investors pursuing yields rather than price growth have also been present in recent buying patterns.
The overall Blue Mountains median at around $410,000 – so about 35% less than the $665,000 Sydney median house price.
There are about 36,665 properties in the Blue Mountains. The total land value of the entire Blue Mountains LGA as at 1 July 2010 was about $8.4 billion.
The main towns are Springwood, Katoomba and Blackheath which are located on the Main Western Railway Line and the Great Western Highway connecting Sydney with Bathurst and orange.
Employment for towns such as Blaxland, located on the lower mountain part of the LGA, is generally based in Sydney and Penrith, while towns in the upper mountain rely more on tourism.
About 70% of the LGA’s area is within the Blue Mountains National Park, which is part of the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site.
There have been about 1,100 house sales so far this year grossing $459 million. Time on market can be quite lengthy, ie 125 days before sale at Wentworth Falls.
THE 8 MOST ACTIVE BLUE MOUNTAIN SALES MARKETS IN 2013
SALES AND MEDIANS
KATOOMBA 150 sales $340,000
WENTWORTH FALLS 120 sales $390,000
BLACKHEATH 100 sales $355,000
BLAXLAND 100 sales $455,000
SPRINGWOOD 90 sales $430,000
LEURA 90 sales $460,000
HAZELBROOK 75 sales $445,000
WINMALEE 70 sales $326,000
Source: RP Data (Medians may differ due to time period and volume.)
The dearest location was Mount Wilson, with a $790,000 median sale, but just from four sales.
Detached houses make up about 94% of total dwellings in the Blue Mountains LGA.
The typical sale at Springwood, where 100 plus homes have been destroyed, gives an indication of the likely insurance cost of getting families back into their homes.
Of course there's plenty of lost business in the meantime.
Lynne Porter, a Mortgage Choice broker servicing Nepean and the surrounding areas, told Australian Broker Online it was hard to concentrate 100% on her job while listening and watching for fire updates each day.
“I have had to postpone a few appointments when things seemed a little dangerous for us," she said.
Springwood-based Aussie Home Loans broker, Kylie Pickham, had to evacuate her home last Thursday with her husband staying behind to help fire-fighters fight a fire across the road.
“I’ve got five clients who have been affected…three of them have lost their homes. I’ve spoken to all of them and guided them in the right direction as to what they need to do – ‘stay safe, contact your insurance company’ - I’ve also been trying to help them find accommodation through the local real estate agents up here. We’re very limited as to what we can do, but the community up here is just amazing and everyone helps one another out…it’s tough. It’s really tough,” she told Australian Broker.
