Sydney’s property market performed strongly over the weekend, coping with a surge in listings as buyers continue to bid aggressively and pay record prices.
The Canberra and Brisbane markets are red-hot while Melbourne clearance rates declined marginally in a market where auction volumes rose 14 per cent.
CoreLogic said 4261 homes went under the hammer this week, the first time national auction numbers have exceeded 4000, making it the biggest seven days since the business started keeping records in 2008.
“Demand hasn’t quite kept pace with the surge in auctions held, with the preliminary clearance rate continuing the softening trend seen since early October, slipping further this week with 71.4 per cent of the results collected so far selling,” CoreLogic said.
Wet weather meant 5 per cent of Sydney auctions were postponed, although the 1577 that went ahead was still the most held in Sydney since November 2014. The clearance rate was 71.4 per cent, down just 2 per centage points on last week despite a 16 per cent rise in listings.
In Melbourne, where 1891 auctions were held – 14 per cent more than the previous week – clearance rates slipped from 72.7 per cent last week to 68.5 per cent.
Once again the city’s standout sale was in the inner bayside suburbs, this time Middle Park, where a four-bedroom home at 76 Armstrong Street sold for $9.8 million.
It followed a series of stunning results in neighbouring Albert Park. Just weeks ago, two grand properties in St Vincent Place, Albert Park, sold for just over $11 million each, while earlier this year Rich Lister Grant Petty paid $9.9 million for a nearby house after an action-packed Zoom auction.
But not all auctions in the southern capital were successful. A 4-bedroom home at 3 Newington Grove at Caulfield North was passed in on a vendor’s bid of $2.95 million and is now on the market at $3.25 million.
The so-called Canberra bubble, where both the residential and commercial property markets have been bullish this year, shows no sign of bursting. Canberra recorded the week’s top auction clearance rate of 88 per cent, despite having a record 184 properties up for auction.
Adelaide also had more properties auctioned than ever before at 299, resulting in a slightly lower clearance rate of 78.7 per cent over the previous week.
In Brisbane, interstate buyers are playing a larger role than ever before, helping drive price increases in family suburbs close to the city. A case in point was the sale on Saturday of 3 Empress Terrace, Bardon, for $2.07 million to a Sydney family.