Clearance rates spark seller's market
With auction clearance rates around the country rising, it’s quickly becoming a seller’s market according to the director of wHeregroup, Todd Hunter.
According to data released by Australian Property Monitors (APM), Sydney’s residential auction clearance rate hit 77.5 per cent, a rate which has only been matched a handful of times in 2013.
Mr Hunter told Smart Property Investment that examining a property's time on market and auction clearance rates are important in assessing what sort of market there is.
“Vendors tend to want to have it sit on the market for some time to get a feel for the market,” Mr Hunter said.
“The two elements to look out for are clearance rates – the proportion of signed contracts of sale within an auction process – and the time a property has been on market. These will tell you whether a market is best for buyers or sellers.
“A buyer’s market is when there are many houses in the area on sale with few buyers and as a result, prices are lower. A seller’s market is the opposite, with more buyers than sellers and consequently higher prices.”
According to APM, 189 of the 223 properties put to the hammer in Sydney were sold for a median price of $879,000 for houses and $671,083 for units.
It was an even busier weekend in Melbourne, with 363 properties up for grabs. However, just 196 were sold for a clearance rate of 66.3 per cent. While still a great result, the Victorian capital took a tumble, from 69.5 per cent the weekend before.
From the 32 properties auctioned in Adelaide this weekend, 19 were sold for a total over $4.7 million and a clearance rate of 57.9 per cent, while Brisbane managed to sell just over half of its stock for a clearance rate of 53.3 per cent – up from 49.3 per cent the week prior.