Slow start to spring selling in Melbourne

MELBOURNE'S property market dipped slightly at the weekend, with clearance rates falling to 61 per cent.

plant auction

MELBOURNE'S property market dipped slightly at the weekend, with clearance rates falling to 61 per cent - the second week in a row of falls.

Auction numbers also slid, with 42 fewer properties going under the hammer than the previous weekend, and remain a long way behind the 625 auctions at the same weekend last year.

It marks a slow start to the spring season, but the Real Estate Institute of Victoria remains optimistic the market will improve in the coming weeks.

"Whilst auction volumes are 19 per cent below this time last year they will increase in the weeks leading up to the AFL Grand Final,'' said spokesman Robert Larocca.

"There are around 690 auctions expected next weekend and 750 on the following weekend.''

Even so, there was life in the market over the weekend, according to buyers advocate Catherine Cashmore. Ms Cashmore watched four properties sell under the hammer - including one auction forced inside a Glen Iris home by a sudden downpour.

"A lone bidder perched on the staircase got the event rolling with a bid of $1.2 million,'' Ms Cashmore said.

"Clearly it was some way below expectation, because the auctioneer wasted no time placing a vendor bid of $1.3 million.

Two interested parties ended up driving the price to $1.510 million.

At auctions around Melbourne it was houses leading the way, accounting for 286 of the 465 properties auctioned across the weekend with a clearance rate of 64 per cent and a median sales price of $735,000.

Apartments didn't fare quite so well as houses with 172 auctions generating a clearance rate of just 57 per cent and median price of $518,750.

Worse again was vacant land, with just two of the seven auctions selling with a median of $530,000.

Meanwhile, the 512 private sales accounted for the best and worst of the market over the weekend.

A Normanby St house in Brighton came with a price tag of $4.8 million to top the market, while a $127,500 property in Earl St in Carlton was by far the most affordable of the weekends sales.

In total $240 million changed hands in private sales.

AUCTIONS:
Total - 465
Sold - 243
Sold before - 40
Sold after - 0
Total value - $210.42 million
Passed in - 182
On vendor's bid - 118
Clearance rate - 61 per cent

TOP FIVE
$2,350,000 (house)
25 Huntingtower Rd, Armadale;
$2,000,000 (apartment)
1D Regent St, Brighton East;
$1,800,000 (house)
118 Sackville St, Kew
$1,580,000 (house)
26 Albany Cr, Surrey Hills
$1,550,000 (house)
20 Glover St, South Melbourne

FIVE MOST AFFORDABLE
$250,000 (apartment)
8/55 Filbert St, Caulfield South
$254,000 (apartment)
1/143 Booran Rd, Caulfield South;
$267,000 (house)
28 Kalimna Cr, Coolaroo;
$270,000 (house)
8 Sarton Lnk, Pakenham;
$285,000 (apartment)
3/39 Milan St, Mentone;