real estate South Coast Property Specialists (Carlene Franzen) Tips #1077:
Welcome to 2022 Well, 2021 was15th a “cracker” of a year in so many ways, both good Vol 16 September 2017 28 April December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 27th 2018
and bad. I’m sure this time last year, all of us were somewhat hopeful that our leaders had the measure of the Corona Virus and things would start going back to “normal” and “freedoms” would abound. But, a pesky variant called Delta came along and that changed everything. With a bit of work we started to get that under control then another pesky variant called Omicron came along. As I write this edition of Franzen tips, NSW has just recorded 12,226 new cases (in one day) and it will be interesting to see what staggering number it will be when you read this (remembering that 25,000/day has been “forecast” as a potential number by the end of January by our Minister for Health). Indeed, one epidemiologist estimated that as many don’t want to stand in long testing queues there may already be 7 times the current number in the community (yikes). But, what does all this mean for the property market? As we have reported in recent Franzen Tips (to be found in The Beagle’s archives), all the banks and most analysts have predicted that house prices will continue to increase throughout most of 2022 and then come back a bit in 2023. Another BUT, those predictions were made before Omicron had even been given a name. And what about other possible/likely (?) variants which may be even more contagious and maybe even more deadly? The trouble is no one really knows. The forecasts have been made on the premise that we will learn to live with Covid and things will start to return to normal after the mass “let’s get out of the city and move to the regions” trend, that has driven the market over the last 18 months. And this may well be the case. Another but, what if variants that we haven’t even seen yet are even worse? The more people around the world with Covid does lend itself to yet another variant(s). So, once again, no one really knows. So, what should you do? Well, it is always wise to make decisions on known/current information and not to speculate too much on what might be. It is still very much a seller’s market and property prices are predicted by the banks and analysts to increase for most of 2022. So, it is both a great time to sell and still a great time to buy. As we close out 2021 and leap with all our might into 2022, there are several things we recommend. Be safe, be careful, be vigilant, be kind.
beagle weekly : Vol 240 December 31st 2021
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