Sun shines on auctions
Sydney’s property market gathered pace at the weekend, suggesting the traditionally hot spring selling season has now officially begun.
The latest auction clearance results from Australian Property Monitors (APM) showed Sydney cleared more than 60 per cent of properties over the weekend – the highest number in two months.
You’re out of free articles for this month
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
This time last week, the capital city only managed to clear just over 50 per cent of properties.
The most expensive property sold was a five bedroom weekend at McMasters Beach north of Sydney, which went under the hammer for $2.325 million.
The most affordable property to sell in Saturday’s auctions was a two bedroom, $232,000 unit in Lakemba.
In Melbourne, 57.3 per cent of properties successfully sold during auction – up from 52.2 per cent last weekend.
But while the number of sales stepped up in the capital city this weekend, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Enzo Raimondo said sales were still heavily down on this time last year.
“Whilst buyers and sellers alike will have welcomed the decision by the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates stable it has not been enough to cause a substantial improvement in the Melbourne auction market,” he said.
“There have been a total of 561 auctions reported of which 308 sold and 253 were passed in, 164 of those on a vendors bid.”
Around 1400 auctions are scheduled in the two weekends before the AFL Grand Final.
Moreover, Adelaide and Brisbane experienced an uptick in auction activity over the weekend.
In Adelaide, 53.1 per cent of properties sold under the hammer – up 22.7 per cent on the previous week.
And in Brisbane, 30 per cent of properties listed for auction cleared, an increase of five per cent compared to last week's results.