It looks like more interest rate cuts could be on the cards, following the release of the Reserve Bank minutes for their May meeting.
Noting some improvements in conditions, the RBA said: “At the same time, however, conditions in the business sector, as assessed in surveys, generally had remained below average, possibly in part because the exchange rate had remained high despite lower export prices and interest rates.”
The expectation of lower rates adds further impetus to the recovery that is building in the housing sector, as evidenced by the ongoing improvements in auction clearance rates.
The data for the weekend just gone (see Table 1 below) shows that preliminary clearance rates for Sydney and Melbourne are robust.
[1]But what is more important, are the updated results for the previous week (see Table 2 below), which show clearance rates of over 70% in both major cities and a massive 355 properties sold at auction in Melbourne for a total value of $206.1 million and a median value of $684,000.
[2]The same week last year (see Table 3 below) had auction clearance rates at below 55% in both major cities and some very low rates were recorded in Adelaide and Brisbane.
[3]Sydney hosted the most expensive property sold at auction on the weekend, but it wasn’t on the north shore. Rather it was in the western suburb of Strathfield, where a six-bedroom house went for $2.94 million.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday night, Sydney recorded its third highest price for a property sold at auction ever, when a Bellevue home next to Cranbrook private school went for $15.5 million. It is understood the home was bought by the school.
Even Brisbane recorded a million dollar property on the weekend, with a five-bedroom house going for $1.48 million in the inner Brisbane suburb of Paddington.
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Also in the Switzer Super Report
- Peter Switzer: Full scale stench or just BO? [4]
- Greg Fraser: Stock in focus – Crown [5]
- Paul Rickard: Product road test – BT Equity Income Funds [6]
- Rudi Filapek-Vandyck: Weekly broker wrap – AIO and AWE upgraded to buy [7]
- Tony Negline: If you’re self-employed, get the paper work right on your tax-deductible contributions [8]