You’ll often hear the expression, “It’s a buyer’s market.” Or the opposite, “It’s a seller’s market.” But what do these terms actually mean, and for impending homebuyers or sellers, does it even matter?
Let’s start with a few simple definitions; A buyer’s market in real estate is when there are more properties available for sale than there are buyers. This means less competition for buyers, allowing homebuyers to potentially negotiate better prices.
A seller’s market is the opposite; this is when there are more buyers than available properties. This will generally lead to higher prices, and faster sales for sellers.
Of course, to work out whether it’s a buyer’s or a seller’s market, you’ll need to decide on which specific market you’re talking about – that’s because every property market in Australia is different. For example, if you look at the median cost of a three-bedroom property, the Sydney market is different to the Melbourne market, which is different to the Brisbane market, which is different again to the Perth market, and so on.
In fact, selling agents will say you can drill down further, and look at how each individual suburb is tracking. (or even individual streets in some circumstances).