The Best Month to Buy Property in WA
We all know the rule of economy: supply and demand. When there is more demand than supply, price goes up. And vice versa, when there is more supply than demand, price goes down. Therefore, I’ve been thinking if it’s worth considering buying property at a particular time of the year just so I can utilise that very law of economy, thus, allowing me to properly form a proper buying strategy.
So, this is what I’ve done: I took a sample of 10 suburbs, ranging from top end class suburbs to medium and low. I collected the number of properties sold from the year 2014-2017.
Albeit the sample is very small, however what I’m hoping is, I’ll be able to see basic patterns. And by plotting the different suburb class, I want to prove if a certain suburb class has a different buying pattern than those of the other class.
Below is my results:
Basically, there is no difference in patterns between suburb classes. December is somehow the “driest” month, and February-March seems to be the “hottest” month. Regardless of “posh” suburbs vs medium or low class suburbs, the pattern remains the same.
So, there you have it. Is December then, the best time to buy property just because there is the least amount of demand? If you’re looking at the stats alone, yes you can say that. However, property buying is a lot more complicated than that.
Instead of focusing on the “when”, we prefer focusing on the “what”. What you are buying is more important than the when. The “what” encompasses everything: property type, purchase price, demands on the area, etc etc. The “when” is nice to know so that you’re not buying at the height of the market. Having said that, if you’re buying right then you would always win.
People who often lose in the game are the gamblers. They simply buy any property believing it would just increase in value. The asset type selection is already wrong, then, the purchase price is also not justified. We still stand towards our belief that, if you bet on capital growth alone, you would lose!
We like cashflow because cashflow allows us to hold the property for a long time. Thus, allowing us to ride through the storm. When cashflow is good, it will not matter if the property value goes up or down. As long as you can hold it, and it doesn’t bleed, you would win eventually.