FIRST TIMERS SCRAMBLE FOR 'UNLIVEABLE' HOMES

Toby Johnstone Published: October 6, 2013

The prize was an ''unliveable'' terrace with a dirt backyard under the flight path - but, for the first home buyers in the crowd, it may as well have been solid gold.
Amid intense investor bidding for 54 George Street, Sydenham, first home buyer Ashley Spratt won the day but she had to spend big to do so.
The dilapidated three-bedroom home sold for $695,000, $95,000 above the reserve.
''It's been hard until today,'' the 29-year-old from Dural said.
''I've been looking for six months and I've probably chosen the worst six months to look because prices have increased significantly.''
Selling agent Tony Iskandar, of First National Real Estate in Marrickville, said first timers had largely disappeared from the market but properties like this were the exception.
''This is what they can afford - unliveable properties,'' he said.
''They've got no choice.''
First home buyers represent just 5 per cent of the market, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show.
In July, there were only 1192 home loans to first timers - 51 per cent less than the same time last year. First home buyer activity peaked in December 2011, when 4256 first timers took out loans to buy property. That was the final month before the stamp duty exemption on existing homes was axed. Government assistance is now only given to those who buy new properties.
This isn't some new Liberal thing since the 'election'. This was ALP policy. In other words, the so-called working mans party.
Andrew Wilson, senior economist at Australian Property Monitors, said first home buyers were facing a ''triple whammy''. ''They have lost their incentives, prices are rising and the economy is falling,'' he said.
First timers are looking further from the city centre to find a home but a new report suggests they are looking in the wrong place.
According to property valuers Herron Todd White, first timers should be home hunting in Vaucluse, which ''still appears to represent decent buying at the lower price point''. Their September review said most buyers in the area were looking at exclusive family homes, meaning two-bedroom units were selling in the ''$550,000 to $600,000 price range''.
Brookvale, on the northern beaches, was also flagged as good-value buying for first timers.
But, wherever young people look, it is likely they will have to fight tooth and nail to win out against investors.
All sides of the political fence have allowed investors to artificially inflate the value of the real estate market.
ABS figures show that investors borrowed $4.7 billion for speculative property dealings in July and now represent 51 per cent of the market. Over the same period, first timers borrowed $360 million - a 10th of the investor war chest.
Another successful first home buyer, Lucy Donlan, said beating the investors means seizing opportunities as soon as they came up.
''You have to gauge the market, know what is going for what price and, when you see something that is good value for money, jump on it,'' she said. ''And be prepared to miss out.''
After nine months, the 26-year-old, who works at Tourism Australia, snagged a one-bedroom apartment with parking in Neutral Bay for $430,000 through Max Wagschall, of Ray White Lower North Shore.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/first-timers-scramble-for-unliveable-homes-20131005-2v0wh.html