Andrew Wilson: Canberra's auction clearance rates down over June

The Canberra home auction market tracked backwards over June, impacted by the usual mid-winter decline in activity from increasingly distracted buyers and sellers.

Canberra recorded an overall home auction clearance rate over the month of 64.7 per cent, which was well down on the 69.2 per cent reported over the previous month but still higher than the 61.5 per cent recorded over June last year.

Although clearance rates were lower over the month, auction volumes have surged this year in Canberra with 1104 listings over the first 6 months of the year compared to just 856 over the same period last year – an increase of 29.0 per cent.

Canberra recorded a median auction price of $680,000 over June which was 5.2 per cent lower than the $717,250 recorded over May and 1.5 per cent lower than the $690,000 recorded over June 2016.

Belconnen was the top performing Canberra auction region over June with a clearance rate of 78.3 per cent and also the highest sales at 62.

Next highest was Canberra central with 68.4 per cent, followed by Woden Valley, 61.5 per cent, Weston Creek, 57.1 per cent, Gungahlin, 56.1 per cent and Tuggeranong with 53.6 per cent.

Next week the Reserve Bank will convene for its regular monthly meeting to determine the direction of official interest rates over June. Following better economic news this month, the bank will almost certainly leave rates on hold at the record 1.5 per cent where they have been since the last cut in August last year.

Although monthly unemployment measures can be volatile, the latest data from the ABS revealed a sharp decline in the national seasonally adjusted rate over May from 5.7 per cent to 5.5 per cent – the lowest result since February 2013.

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With the recent sharp decline in the jobless rate, the Reserve Bank is now more likely to keep rates on hold over the foreseeable future – although the recently underperforming economy is not out of the woods yet.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group chief economist. Twitter@DocAndrewWilson Join on LinkedIn and Facebook at MyHousingMarket.