Winter chill keeps buyers away
Bleak winter weather continued to deter buyers over the weekend, the latest data has revealed.
According to figures from Australian Property Monitors, auctions in Sydney and Melbourne failed to excite buyers on the weekend, with both capital cities recording clearance rates under 60 per cent.
In Sydney, 52.5 per cent of properties cleared over the weekend – a similar result to last weekend when 52.8 per cent of properties cleared.
The most expensive property sold in the New South Wales capital was a four bedroom house in Strathfield, which went under the hammer for $2.1 million.
The most affordable property to sell at the weekend was a three bedroom house in Tregear, which sold for just $210,000.
The story in Melbourne was much the same, with just 58.3 per cent of properties clearing over the weekend.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Enzo Raimondo said the poor auction clearance result did not come as a surprise.
“The long weekend has resulted in a low volume of auctions. A total of 83 homes were sold and 63 were passed in, of those 38 were passed in on a vendors bid. This weekend last year saw 348 auctions and a clearance rate of 72 per cent,” he said.