Record weekend as auction market reaches boiling point

Editorial director of Switzer
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A “one-in-100 year perfect storm of auction conditions”. That’s the way Andrew Wilson, senior economist at Australian Property Monitors described the auction market this weekend, and the APM numbers certainly back the claim up.

448 properties made it to auction in Sydney, with 83.7% of those selling. After two weeks of ‘Super Saturday’ in Melbourne, the Victorian capital continued to power ahead, with a clearance rate of 73.1%.

Almost $670 million worth of property changed hands in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend. While Sydney had the higher median value, Melbourne had the most expensive property sold, when a two-bedroom house in Toorak went for $3.02 million.

Adelaide and Brisbane remained lackluster, with clearance rates of 57.7% and 55.2% respectively.

Table 1: This Saturday, 9 November 2013

Last week was similarly strong, with clearance rates in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide all above 73%. The properties that were selling were more valuable, with the median house price value for Sydney over $1 million.

Table 2: Last Saturday, 2 November 2013

Looking back 12 months, the property market is unrecognisable. None of the top four cities managed to clear more than 60% of properties at auction, with Brisbane selling a measly 28.1%. Looking at this, Brisbane’s 60.5% figure from last week actually looks pretty strong.

Table 3: Saturday, 20 November 2012

Despite the booming market, talk of a ‘bubble’ is still far-fetched. All markets have ups and downs, and at the moment we’re in the midst of one very strong up on the Sydney and Melbourne property scene.

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