Home Loan Refinance

This table and chart highlight the heavy impact that interest rates have on the Terrigal and Central Coast housing market.

 

While the COVID lockdowns initially affected house sale volumes, the emergency RBA cash interest rate cuts led to a spike in volumes throughout 2021 and early 2022. The sudden 4% RBA cash rate increase led to a decline in annual Central Coast house sale volumes, dropping from 7,362 in January 2022 to 4,871 in January 2023 and 5,011 in January 2024. 

 

Will the predicted interest rate reduction create a demand spike in market volumes? At the close of business last night, the ASX rate indicator showed a 59% chance of a 0.50% RBA cash rate cut at the May 2025 meeting. Having said that, this indicator showed a 79% change of a 0.50% rate cut. The ASX indicator's current trend is moving toward a more moderate rate cut.

 

Please call me if you'd like to talk about your property options. We can usually give you a good indication of borrowing capacity over a 10-minute phone call.

 

 

One of the best sets of data for monitoring the health of a property market, especially on the Central Coast, is the Rental Vacancy Rate. Investors use this information to gauge the current supply and demand position and predict the future direction of rental yields. This terrific chart shows the history of the Central Coast Vacancy rate since 2005. 

 

The current rental property vacancy rate is around 1%, based on an estimated 37,500 rental properties. A low vacancy rate indicates that rents are more likely to increase as demand appears to exceed supply. 

 

As you can see, the current Central Coast vacancy rate is historically low. Is this scarcity driving up our rents? I will answer that question with more data tomorrow, but I can confirm that my current experience as a mortgage broker on the Central Coast is that we are seeing an increase in renters seeking to buy their own homes and investors looking to purchase cash-flow-positive properties. Both of these trends indicate that rents are on the rise.

 

Please give me a call on 0414255530 if you would like to talk through your property plans.