Warmer weather drives increased auction activity
The warmer weather seemingly had a good effect on home buyers at the weekend.
The latest data from Australian property Monitors found Sydney recorded a boost in auction clearance rates, falling just shy of 70 per cent, while Melbourne recorded a slight drop but remained strong with 61.2 per cent of properties clearing.
The most expensive property sold in Sydney over the weekend was an 8 bedroom house in Point Piper which went for a cool $17 million, while the cheapest property to go under the hammer was a $170,000 studio apartment in Darlinghurst.
APM head of research Yvonne Chan said auction rates had been volatile in the past few weeks – due to the changing climate and undecided federal election.
However, according to Ms Chan, Sydney and Melbourne have both emerged from the storm “more optimistic”.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) chief executive Enzo Raimondo said in comparison to last year the housing market is currently very healthy.
According to Mr Raimondo, more vendors were obtaining successful outcomes, with around 56 per cent more homes being sold by auction so far this year.
“When private sales are included in the comparison, the value of transactions is over $5 billion more – for every three dollars spent on residential property last year there have been four dollars spent this year. This is partly due to the fact that most homes sell for more this year than they would have last year but it is also due to a higher number of actual sales.”
But while auction clearance results were good in Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane suffered a dip in clearance activity, with just 18.8 per cent of properties successfully being sold under the hammer over the weekend.