Newbie68 - you will get alot of different opinions on this forum about property cycle ...where it's up to. All I can say is that I have bought at all times throughout property cycle including at peak (because like alot of people I thought it hadn't peaked!) but always bought at the lower than median price range. I did a lot of research and none of the properties are 'duds' and all but one have given me capital growth everage 8% per year - some I've had for over 10 years - some grew then only grew 2%. The thing I did right was to get the equity out of the properties during boom time and not try to sell them during flat time.
My brother had 10 houses in Western suburbs at one time (everyone said, don't buy there) and they all just about quadrupled in price but then when he wanted to sell they had dropped again e,g purchased house at $125K He renovated and paid $65K then a year later it was worth $480K. - then property bust and he got $380K. He still made a good profit - but was forced to sell during down time of property cycle because he committed himself to a rather expensive water side apartment and got caught when the apartment lost value after it was built and he'd fixed his loan.
Sydney is starting to recover and maybe we'll never see those heady increases again but that is no reason not to look for the types of properties which have stood the test of time...close to transport, solid basic building with little maintenance, close to city, etc etc and buy something you can add value to. Especially if you are looking for property in mid 200, and you want to make some capital gains that you can get the equity out of in the short term. Good luck
My brother had 10 houses in Western suburbs at one time (everyone said, don't buy there) and they all just about quadrupled in price but then when he wanted to sell they had dropped again e,g purchased house at $125K He renovated and paid $65K then a year later it was worth $480K. - then property bust and he got $380K. He still made a good profit - but was forced to sell during down time of property cycle because he committed himself to a rather expensive water side apartment and got caught when the apartment lost value after it was built and he'd fixed his loan.
Sydney is starting to recover and maybe we'll never see those heady increases again but that is no reason not to look for the types of properties which have stood the test of time...close to transport, solid basic building with little maintenance, close to city, etc etc and buy something you can add value to. Especially if you are looking for property in mid 200, and you want to make some capital gains that you can get the equity out of in the short term. Good luck