Chapter 1: How has COVID disrupted life and real estate in Castle Hill?
It's The Real Estate Podcast, brought to you by Ray White, the largest real estate and property group in Australasia. And welcome to another episode of The Real Estate Podcast. We are talking to Philip Kelly from Ray White Castle Hill. Welcome to The Real Estate Podcast. Hi, Craig. Thanks for having me. Good to have you. Challenging times, aren't they? COVID has been very disruptive in our life.
How's life in general for you out at the office in Castle Hill?
Absolutely, Craig. It's been a very interesting time. And I guess in 2020, we had a lockdown of sorts, it appears now, compared to the length of time I guess we've We've been locked down this year, and it probably took us all a little bit by surprise, certainly the length of time that we would spend in that environment. And I guess it's a case of we got a dress rehearsal of sorts last year.
Chapter 2: What changes has COVID brought to the real estate industry?
And in many ways, it was getting back into the memory bank, I guess, to ensure that we approach this in the best possible way.
And in terms of the vaccinations, boy, every time somebody says to me they've been vaccinated, it's a high five. Every single one of those helps us get out of our situation that we're currently in. Now, real estate, in many ways, it keeps its head above the waterline.
So the disruption as we know it, it is affecting the real estate industry, or how do you feel that the disruption is going at the moment?
Yeah, look, certainly I think COVID has changed a lot in our industry. And so it has been, I guess, disrupted more in a traditional sense. But I guess we are constantly evolving.
You know, I know when I started in real estate, the consumer had very little, I guess, control of the situation and would often, you know, would be physically walking into the office and entirely guided by, I guess, the, you know, many ways the experience they would have with the agent.
The consumers have had a lot more, I guess, ability to get a real sense of marketplaces and such and agents and methods of sale as the internet's obviously become more and more prominent and then through social media and the like. And I think with the changes in the lockdown, the major impact on our industry has been around technology, bridging the gap for that face-to-face contact.
And fortunately, it has done so very effectively, I think in part because we live in an environment where everyone's, I guess, far more comfortable in the, I guess, a technical space. And so it's allowed us, we haven't faced as an industry, I guess, we've had to adapt to
But we haven't had the level of disruption, I guess, that many other industries, thinking of retail and the like, will have experienced.
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Chapter 3: How are technology and virtual solutions impacting real estate?
And, you know, we seem to be very adaptable when it comes to where we live. how we socialize within our community. And then when we decide to sell and move to somewhere new, I think the real estate industry offers real time solutions to many people's concerns. So solutions can be found to a current challenging market. Is that what you feel? Absolutely. There have been huge changes.
And one of the, I guess, one of the keys and One of the interesting conversations that we often have inside our business is, I guess, looking at what we've actually taken over this period. I'm not certain of the origin of this quote. I think it may have been Teddy Roosevelt, but the, you know, never wasting a crisis.
And we've adapted in many ways as an industry in terms of virtual auctions, virtual inspections, digital contracts, digital agreements have become far more common, you And a lot of these things really enhance, I guess, the consumer experience and have allowed us to make our industry more accessible.
And I think one of the challenges for us is to make sure we don't leave some of those things behind. We're obviously in an industry where
Chapter 4: What makes Castle Hill a desirable place to live?
We're always excited to be back out there and in the community, but not forgetting the fact that the experience is entirely different for consumers and we can offer them so much more than we could in the past.
And Castle Hill, Philip, it's obviously a place that you really enjoy. What's the one thing that you really enjoy about Castle Hill?
Castle Hill's just a wonderful community Craig and over the years I've been fortunate enough to live in the Hills area for the best part of 15 years and I guess what's great about this area is it's such a wonderful place to live and really I guess a real family area. The great part of that is that the community is built that way. The schools are fantastic.
Some of the best schools in the country. There are plenty of great parks and other amenities that are, I guess, very much suited towards the family. And really importantly, and I guess in terms of real estate, we have really generous family homes on good blocks of land in great family-friendly communities.
Oh, you've got me wanting to move to Castle Hill now, mate. You'd always be welcome here, Craig. That's for sure. Now, tell me about the Castle Hill property market. What's been happening with the prices over the last 12 months?
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Chapter 5: What trends are emerging in the Castle Hill property market?
Yeah, look, I mean, Castle Hill's a fantastic area and it's always been, I guess, in many ways, we would describe it as the jewel in the crown of Northwest Sydney. And It's always attracted high levels of interest, but we've seen some huge changes in recent years. So previous to the pandemic, the Norwest Rail Link coming out here really changed accessibility.
As a consequence, the population's grown significantly. We have a far more diverse marketplace in terms of property offering as well. One of the other factors, I guess, because it has always been, I guess, such a good family area is Those departing our market tend to be downsizing. As a consequence, it is, I guess, quite a tightly held and highly contested area.
So we've seen the average sale prices, for example, in Castle Hill have far outperformed the average sale price increases across Sydney. You know, we're obviously, Sydney's been a booming marketplace as it is in recent years, but Castle Hill's certainly been at the top of the pack in terms of performance.
Well, you enjoy those house prices and what's happening in Castle Hill. Philip, thank you so much for coming on to The Real Estate Podcast. Thank you, Craig. It was a pleasure.
Chapter 6: How have property prices changed in Castle Hill over the past year?
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