South Australia and Western Australia the places to be in 2018: Century 21

In the midst of unpredictable market conditions and several policy changes across the country, property markets in South Australia have had “a constant, steady flow of property coming into the marketplace”. At the same time, it also got some negative news from time to time—striking a balance that kept the excitement in the real estate market.

According to Charles: “It's been one of those states where the movement in price has been steady all the way through. In the last few weeks, the Adelaide clearance rates have been pretty strong compared to this time last year.”

The three capital cities Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide saw better clearance rates compared to data from 2016 while other capital cities in Australia have gone backward. Charles believes that investors may continue to invest comfortably in South Australia this 2018 due to the fair stability of its property markets.

“You just have to make sure you allow for a little bit of extra cash just in case you do get a vacancy or if there's a closure of another industry … [because] South Australia seems to get belted with that,” he said.

Smart Property Investment’s Phil Tarrant agree that while the state is not set to be a “big boom town” this year, property investors can definitely expect to find good, steady areas to buy in there.

Western Australia

Property investors in Western Australia, meanwhile, has seen a lot of capital growth, especially those who have bought assets “pre-boom”—around five to six years ago.

Charles said: “Today, the price of those properties is the same as what they bought them for … They've gone through an incredible cycle, a full cycle.”

The property professional has picked Perth as one of the areas that could be expected to get good growth in the next few years due to negative equity. Moreover, the vacancy rates have been in “the 10s and 11s” for most of the year, only dropping at around 8% in the last four months of 2017.

He explained: “It's gotten so low that there are people there with negative equity, there are people there with mortgages that are bigger than the value of the house.”

“That's pretty good for Perth … I noticed a slight increase in rents… I'm starting to see a change.”

“If I was an investor, I would look at Perth very strongly because [investors from] South Africa [and the] United Arab Emirates, they buy in those areas. They put a lot of their money there from their own sometimes unsafe economies,” he added.

On top of it all, the mining boom that has occurred in Perth has been extended “in an organised manner”. Overall, Perth’s good prices and its reputation as a liveable and accessible city could make it one of the top property hotspots in Australia this 2018.

Tune in to Charles Tarbey’s episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about his thoughts and concerns on specific property markets and how it will impact investors, how he thinks vacancy and auction rates will change next year, as well as his advice on the best places to buy in 2018, the trends we will see, and the best time to buy.