American multi-billionaire John Paul Getty knew a thing or two about creating wealth.
At the time of his death in 1976 he is believed to have been worth over 4 billion dollars.
A sizable part of Getty’s success can be attributed to the aggressive investment strategy he pursued during the Great Depression.
When the American economy turned for the worst in 1929, Getty began to buy stock.
Getty was shrewd enough to recognise that markets are fickle and what someone is prepared to pay on a particular day does not necessarily equate to its true market value.
He also recognised that there is an optimum time to buy. As he was later to reflect: “I buy when other people are selling.”
I think the time is right to apply Getty’s principles to the real estate market in Western Australia.
This is because there are more properties on the market than there have been for several years.
In addition, the selling time has also increased from a low of 30 days in 2006 to and average 75 days in 2008 and as much as 90 days!
As a consequence, sellers are more receptive to offers than they were two years ago.
If you look at previous cycles, the longest down time in WA has been 1 to 1.5 years.
At the moment we are at about 10 months which suggests that we are closer to a return to positive growth than not.
If you are looking at purchasing property from an investment point-of-view and have medium to long view of the market, there are some good buys right now.
Of course, if you are looking to upsize or downsize the family home, the pricing doesn’t really matter because you are buying and selling in the same market.
This is not to say that there are you don’t have to strategize correctly in the present market for as always, the opportunity lies in deciding whether to sell or buy first...
David Fear
Director
Altus Real Estate