Tomorrow, with the release of the minutes for the Reserve Bank meeting that decided the rate cut on May 7, we will get a clear idea of where rates are headed. But with many economists predicting another cut anyway, the property market is powering ahead.
Auction clearance rates are still strong, with a preliminary reading as high as 78.6% for Sydney, as can be seen in the chart below.
Melbourne is also relatively strong at 73.6% and in the updated numbers for the week of May 11 (see below), Melbourne shows a massive 423 properties were sold at auction, higher than the 229 sold in Sydney.
In the same week last year (see below), all capital cities recorded clearance rates under 60%. Adelaide and Brisbane traditionally have much lower clearance rates, partly due to the smaller number of properties reported for auction. Those states also have been experiencing slightly slower economic growth in the cities.
Expensive properties continue to be sold at auction but it was a three-bedroom unit in the inner city Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst that sold for the most this week, going under the hammer for $3.3 million.
A four-bedroom house in Malvern East, 11km south of Melbourne’s CBD, went for $2.26 million and a property in Adelaide also hit the million-dollar mark. A four-bedroom house in Brighton, 15km south of the Adelaide CBD, sold for $1.36 million.
The most affordable property was a one-bedroom apartment in Noble Park, 35km from Melbourne’s CBD, which went for $187,500. The next most affordable was a two-bedroom unit in the outer western suburb of Mount Druitt, which went for $230,500.
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