This week the preliminary national clearance rate was 59.9%, compared with 66.45% last week, and 61.4% at the same time last year.
Despite this week’s clearance rate coming in much lower than the highest rate recorded this year (at 76.2%) it should be noted that auction volumes were significantly low in the lead up to a long weekend in the eastern states.
Weekly clearance rate, combined capital cities
In Sydney, the preliminary auction clearance rate was 65.7% after coming in at 73% last week. This equates to a total of 260 cleared auctions out of 396 auctions collected by RP Data during the week.
In Melbourne – the clearance rate was 61% compared with 65.4% last week. This equates to 164 cleared auctions out of 269 auctions recorded this week. RP Data generally collects between 85% and 90% of all auction results available during the week.
Capital city auction statistics (preliminary)
The median price of a Sydney home sold via private treaty this week came in at $764,000 after 1,948 sales took place, while Melbourne’s median house price stood at $506,000 after 2,038 sales. The median price of houses across capital cities was $573,042.
Capital city private treaty median prices
Home values reduced in Sydney by 1.6% across the month and 0.3% since last week, while Melbourne’s home values reduced by 3.9% across the month and 0.8% compared to last week. However both cities have had price increases since this time last year, with an annual increase in Sydney’s values of 16.6% and a 9.8% increase in Melbourne’s.
Capital city home value changes
And looking to our quarterly property data results, we have had the strongest first quarter for house sales since 2009, and the strongest quarter for unit sales since 2010. Compared to the first quarter of 2013, house sales have risen by 7.9%.
As research analyst Cameron Kusher explains, “it’s not necessarily best to compare sales between quarters because the housing market behaves very differently in each period however, comparing to the same quarter in previous years does provide insight into the comparative performance of the market.”
“While our March sales volumes data indicates that although sales are higher than they were a year ago, monthly sales activity isn’t as strong as it was at the end of 2013,” says Kusher.
Change in capital city house and unit sales – 3 months to March 2013 vs. 3 months to March 2014
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