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Steven Cross
Opportunity abounds for some real estate agents despite the majority of respondents to the latest Real Estate Business Sentiment Survey expecting activity to plateau in the coming quarter, with more than half agreeing business levels will either fall or stay the same.
Rod Devlin, director from PRD Jens Gaunt Real Estate in Kyneton, Victoria, said the results are good news for him.
“If everyone is thinking that they will stay the same it presents opportunities for others who are promoting growth.
“My situation would be that we will grow in the coming months,” he said.
“We would hope to grow our market share by increased productivity and a more aggressive recruiting campaign.”
This is consistent with a number of real estate groups, including Raine & Horne, LJ Hooker, RE/MAX and ACT-based Independent Property Group, which recently purchased Laing+Simmons, which are also looking to grow in the current market. Regional groups such as Barry Plant and ACTON have also reported an upswing in business in recent months, defying otherwise flat markets.
According to the latest Real Estate Business’ Quarterly Sentiment Survey, undertaken in late March and early April, 58 per cent of the 283 respondents said they expected business to either fall (8.5 per cent) or stay the same (49.5 per cent) over the coming quarter. Respondents also expected property sales to remain steady in the next three months, with 65 per cent expecting either no change (48 per cent) or a fall (18 per cent) in volumes in the next quarter.
Just over one in three respondents said days on market would rise in the three months to June.
Lee Tamblin, from 1st Place Realty in Western Australia, said principals had become wary of spending too much on marketing in light of the flat market.
“There’s more stock on the market but the number of sales hasn’t been increasing, so principals don’t want to invest in advertising because of the lack of income,” Mr Tamblin told Real Estate Business.
“That’s why they think they are going to stay the same. When things improve they’ll spend more money, and that will increase sales.”
Mr Tamblin also agreed with several comments from various WA-based survey respondents who said that the next few months are the hardest of the year.
“Every June, July and August my figures will half,” Mr Tamblin said.
“It’s a big drop. Usually I’d be doing 10 to 12 sales a month on my own, come that time of the year, it will drop to four to six. Hopefully I’m wrong.”
On a positive note, an overwhelming majority of respondents (90 per cent) said the property market would represent good value for buyers in the coming quarter.
The Real Estate Business Quarterly Sentiment Survey is an online-based poll. The results to the latest survey were based on 283 replies, with the majority of respondents coming from the residential sales and property management sectors (88.2 per cent). More than half were principals (53.9 per cent) and licensees (10.4 per cent), and another 22.9 per cent were sales representatives.
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