Agent view: Strong housing market continuing into new year

The new year started in a similar vein to how 2015 finished, with strong inquiry from buyers and sellers. Normally you would expect the December-January period to be a bit quieter, but this was not the case. Buyers were anxious to purchase homes and exchange quickly, to be in their new dwellings as soon as possible.

Demand is coming from buyers moving from interstate, which is typical at this time of year, but we are also seeing strong demand from buyers looking to upgrade from their existing homes.

A positive sign for the year is the number of investors slowly coming back into the market. This is expected to increase during the year, given the uncertainty around the sharemarket at present.

The auction clearance rate in Canberra is high, which points to an exciting year.

Chris Wilson is director of Cream Residential.