Interest rates remained on hold again this week following the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting on Melbourne Cup Day.
Inflation has now dropped to within the target range between 2-3%, however, the RBA are wary of a number of factors. These include the impact of government rebates on electricity acting as an artificial reduction in inflation, tight labour markets and overseas events.
However, on the balance of all these factors, they did not feel there was enough data to cut rates at this stage. The next meeting is in early February 2025, so let’s hope for some better news then.
In the meantime, the local real estate market has actually been performing quite well as buyers acknowledge the next interest rate movement is down.
Helensburgh is holding up well for houses while some units are struggling with strata issues. Stanwell Park and Otford are popular with Sydneysiders again, Coledale is in demand with a bunch of Eastern Suburbs residents relocating and Austinmer/Thirroul is rebounding.
A few examples are below:
- 33 Domville Road, Otford sold $1,300,000 on 18th October 2024 (Ian Pepper, Ray White Helensburgh)
- 12 Monash St, Thirroul sold $2,100,000 on 18th October 2024 (David Hyslop, Molenaar & McNeice)
- 14 The Drive, Stanwell Park sold $1,170,000 on 26th October 2024 (Ian Pepper, Ray White Helensburgh)
- 3 Clifton School Parade, Clifton sold $1,700,000 on 1st November 2024 (Mattias Samuelsson from Ray White Helensburgh)
- 25 Mountain Rd, Austinmer sold $1,920,000 on 15th October 2024 (Andrew Hedley from One Agency).
About the writer
Ian Pepper has had a long and distinguished career as a finance and real estate professional. Originally trained as a Chartered Accountant in 1995, Ian worked in Sydney and London. He has an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management and now sells real estate with Ray White Helensburgh. Ian also volunteers with local community groups including school P&Cs, sporting clubs and business chambers.
