With Anzac Day centenary commemorations taking place on Saturday, auction activity was a lot quieter than usual, with just 550 auctions held over the combined capital cities this week, compared to 2,603 last week.
Despite the small volumes, the preliminary auction clearance rate for the combined capital cities was the highest on record at 84.3%, compared to 78.9% last week.
However as remaining auction data continue to come in, the final clearance rate is likely to be scaled back.
Weekly clearance rate, combined capital cities
[1]Australia’s largest auction market – Melbourne – recorded an auction clearance rate of 87.4% for a total of 169 auctions compared to 79.5% last week across a total of 1,266 auctions.
Weekly clearance rate, Melbourne
[2]Australia’s hottest performing auction market – Sydney – recorded an auction clearance rate of 91.9% across 192 auctions. This compares to an auction clearance rate of 87.0% across 988 auctions last week.
Weekly clearance rate, Sydney
[3]This week Sydney’s most active auction areas included the Eastern Suburbs.
And if you’re wondering how expensive property is right now, take a look at the median house and unit prices for private treaty sales in the capital cities.
To buy a house in Sydney, you’d be up for around $864,000, while a unit will set you back $650,000.
In Melbourne, the median house price stands at $560,000 and for units it’s $470,000.
Capital city private treaty median prices
[4]
Why lower rates can be good for the national property market
Head of Research at CoreLogic RP Data, Tim Lawless, says that a lower cash rate could mean positive things for property [5] around Australia.
Lawless reminds us that while the red hot prices of Sydney – which have risen roughly 14% over the past 12 months – present challenges for the RBA, there are multiple property markets across the nation that could benefit from monetary policy stimulus.
“Moving interest rates lower will potentially provide more stimulus to an already hot Sydney housing market, but may also provide much needed fuel to housing markets in other parts of the country,” Lawless says.
His comments come off the back of CoreLogic RP Data’s recent quarterly Pain and Gain report, which found that many mining regions, such as Queensland’s Mackay and Fitzroy, have a high proportion of loss making sales.
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