Clearance rates in capital cities climb higher as buyers brave online auctions
Auction clearance rates edged closer to 90 per cent in a number of capital cities over the weekend.
Auction clearance rates edged closer to 90 per cent in several cities at the weekend, as Melbourne house-hunters shrugged off fears that a return to online bidding during lockdown would deter buyers.
Property researcher CoreLogic reported 1529 homes went under the hammer across Australia, up 338 properties from last week, with preliminary numbers showing a clearance rate of 87.8 per cent in Melbourne and 87.5 per cent in Sydney.
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said a comparatively low number of listings — 668 homes in Melbourne and 624 in Sydney — combined with high buyer demand was pushing up prices. “In Sydney and Melbourne, that pressure is supporting a strong clearance rate,” he said.
“More broadly, it reflects that there is a limited amount of stock in the marketplace in which demand has grown significantly.
“Mortgage demand has grown 15 per cent, real estate transaction activity year on year was up 25 per cent. We’re seeing this rise in buyer activity and listing numbers are lower than normal this time of year, so really this is a story of a large number of buyers competing for a small amounts of stock available for sale, and this creates some urgency.”
Strong results were also reported in Canberra, which had the highest clearance rate at 91.2 per cent for 65 properties. Adelaide also finished strongly, clearing 89.5 per cent on 76 homes, while Brisbane recorded a clearance rate of 62.7 per cent and Perth cleared 42.9 per cent.
House prices surpassed pre-pandemic highs by 1 per cent last month, as every capital city reported an increase in property values bringing Sydney’s median price to $879,299, Melbourne’s to $692,162 and Brisbane’s to $527,826, according to CoreLogic.
Ray White Group managing director Dan White said buyers had also had time to become comfortable in the online auction format.
Funders of teals top list of donors
The Australian’s analysis shows the source was unknown for some $75.6m donated to political parties and independent MPs – so-called ‘dark money’ that fell under the disclosure requirement.
This PM doesn’t want to talk anti-Semitism, or an early election
All that Albanese is saying points to a long campaign to leverage the prospect of better economic conditions, remove the distraction of domestic terror and regather momentum after a hard January.