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Home buyers in Sydney are reportedly suffering from a case of ‘fear-of-missing-out’ disease, according to a leading buyer’s agent.
The city’s property values jumped 2.7% last month, according to RP Data figures and auction clearance rates hung out at around 75% - a vast improvement over June 2012, when the Sydney average was around 55%.
Propertybuyer’s Rich Harvey tells Fairfax Media's Domain that the market for property under $1m is ‘sizzling’.
“Buyers are frantically chasing properties with little regard of comparative values,” he says.
However, while the improving market is encouraging sellers to put homes on the market, Australian Property Monitors warns the situation differs between various suburbs.
“There’s a lot of panic buying going on,” Belle Property Surry Hills principle, Charles Touma, tells reporters. "There's a real fear that the market is going to continue rising and they are going to miss out.”
"And you have to be aggressive because there aren't a lot of properties to fall back on: the low stock and low interest rates are all contributing to this."
Harvey says the message for buyers is simple: "It is more crucial than ever to conduct a thorough analysis of property value to avoid the mistake of overpaying...Many buyers are catching the FOMO disease - the fear of missing out is clearly driving some buyers to become emotional with the transaction."
