Spring revival fuels bullish market

Australia’s housing market continued its early spring momentum at the weekend, after recording another strong week of auction clearances.

Despite stay-at-home restrictions entering their 13th week, Sydney continued to lead the way. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Australia’s housing market continued to capitalise on its early spring momentum at the weekend after recording another bullish week of auction clearances despite lockdowns in the country’s two largest cities.

Preliminary results from CoreLogic on Sunday showed 74.6 per cent of homes that went to auction cleared, with a combined 1071 out of 1491 properties selling across the nation’s capital cities.

Despite stay-at-home restrictions entering their 13th week, Sydney continued to lead the way, notching up its eighth consecutive week of preliminary clearance rates above 80 per cent with 82 per cent of 693 auctions resulting in a sale.

My Housing Market chief economist Andrew Wilson said the country was experiencing an “early spring revival” with no hint the housing market was faltering.

“Sydneysiders continue to defy the sceptics, showing they are remarkably adaptable to the demands of online auctions and inspections. The really pleasing news is that physical inspections will return to Melbourne, which has been a major barrier to market activity. This will play a big part in refuelling confidence in the housing market.”

In Melbourne, more than 560 auctions were held in the week, up 11 per cent on last week’s figures and more than double this time last year. Of 383 results collected to Sunday afternoon, 56.4 per cent were successfully cleared.

“We’ve been seeing Melbourne auctions slowly decline since the beginning of its lockdown, and that’s mainly because of the inability to do in-person inspections,” said Dr Wilson.

“Despite the high withdrawal rate, the lifting of these measures will act as an enormous booster to the Melbourne market.”

At auction, Perth came out on top as the “busiest of the small capital cities” with a preliminary clearance rate of 90 per cent, although only 10 results were recorded across the city.

Results in Adelaide and Brisbane remained promising, with both cities registering clearance rates of above 82 per cent.

In Canberra, where auctions achieved a clearance rate of 78.6 per cent, agents predict a post-lockdown boom as vendors set aside their hesitancy and begin to list high property volumes.

Dr Wilson said while the market remained “well down” from its position this time last year, the city was showing “early signs of improvement”, as Canberrans adjust to lockdown restrictions.