The Melbourne home auction market reported another strong
result at the weekend with buyer activity continuing to track at the highest winter
levels since 2009.
Melbourne recorded a 79.9 percent clearance rate on Saturday,
just above the 79.5 percent recorded the previous weekend and again ahead of
the 75.5 percent rate of the same weekend last year. The weekend result was the
third consecutive Saturday increase in the clearance rate, with the market reporting
remarkably consistent outcomes over the past month.
Unseasonably high auction numbers have provided no barrier
to the August revival as confident sellers continue to flood the late winter
market. 785 homes were listed for auction in Melbourne at the weekend, which
although down on last weekend’s all-time record August offering of 950 auctions
was again well ahead of the 625 conducted over the same weekend last year.
Reflecting Melbourne’s consistent overall auction clearance
rate over August, suburban regions are now producing more consistent comparative
results reflecting an even spread of strong buyer activity through price ranges,
buyer types and locations.
Melbourne’s outer east again reported the highest regional
clearance rate on Saturday with an 83.1 percent result followed by the west
with 82.7 percent, the inner city and the north east each with 81.4 percent,
the inner east 80.9 percent, the south east 80.6 percent and the inner south and
the north each with 76.4 percent.
The most expensive property reported sold at auction at the
weekend was a 4 bedroom home at 95 Rowell Avenue Camberwell sold for $3,200,000
by Noel Jones. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend
was a 1 bedroom unit at 2/8 Walnut Street Carnegie sold for $235,000 by Biggin
and Scott.
For a list of weekend auction results in Melbourne click here Melbourne
auction results Saturday August 15
Rising auction clearance rates
over the past month resulted in rising home auction prices with the median
trend auction price increasing from $753,938 last Saturday to $772,375 this Saturday. Although more higher
priced properties are entering the market and influencing prices growth, Melbourne’s
latest weekend trend auction price remains 11.3 percent higher than the $693,938
recorded over the same Saturday last year.
Increased investor activity is a driver of rising clearance rates
in the Melbourne market. Latest ABS data
reports that residential investor finance to the value of $3.857bn was approved
in Victoria over June. This was just below the all-time monthly record of $3.865bn
recorded over the previous month. Investor finance approved in Victorian for
housing has increased by 28.3 percent over the first 6 months of this year compared
to the same period last year. Investors now account for 51.4 percent of all
residential lending in Victoria with activity from this group tracking at
record market share levels this year.
An improving local economy has also been a key driver of increased
overall housing market activity in Melbourne this year. Latest ABS data however
reports that the Melbourne July jobless rate increased sharply from 5.8 percent
to 6.5 percent over the month to be just below the 6.6 reported over July last
year. Despite the rise in the jobless rate, the number of Melbourne employed has
increased by 62,300 over the past year.
Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Senior Economist
Twitter@DocAndrewWilson
