Canberra auctions to kick into full swing this weekend

After a quiet January, Saturday auctions in the nation’s capital are set to recommence this weekend.

There are 34 properties scheduled to go under the hammer this Saturday with more than one-third of them in the Belconnen region.

Agents are confident the market can recover from the lacklustre clearance rates experienced at the end of last year.

While Canberra’s auction performance held up for most of 2018, in November the clearance rate dropped below 50 per cent and December’s clearance rate of 44 per cent was a five-year low for the market.

The overall clearance rate for houses in 2018 was 62 per cent, with units at 49 per cent.

Harcourts Brindabella principal Jeremy Maher believes auction performance will improve in the coming months, saying open home numbers over January have been impressive. 

“Our open home numbers have tripled on those in December,” he said.

“The banking royal commission scared people but people have gone through Christmas and realised they still need a home.”

Mr Maher has four scheduled auctions this Saturday but said he has already received offers on two of them.  

“The market is fine – Canberra is insulated and we are big enough now to deflect all the issues the rest of the nation has had,” he said.

The Domain House Price Report, released on Thursday, found house prices fell flat in the nation’s capital over the December 2018 quarter but Canberra was one of only three capital cities to not dip into negative territory. Unit prices in the ACT dropped 6.1 per cent over the same period.  

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While auctions have remained relatively quiet over January, Ray White Canberra held their annual Summer Sizzler event last Thursday with 34 properties going under the hammer at Old Parliament House.

Ray White Canberra head of sales Scott Jackson said there was a high buyer inquiry for the properties, despite perceptions that this is a quiet time of the year.

“The people of Canberra have traditionally thought January isn’t a good time to sell property so agents have waited until February before launching their campaigns, but we take a different view,” he said. 

“We think plenty of people need to buy a home in January. We had well over 1000 inspections across all properties, which is well above our long-term average.”

Auctions next weekend

Curtin 

38 Cockburn Street

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 4 parking spaces

Price guide: $900,000+

Weetangera 

20 Packer Street

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 parking spaces

Price guide: $1.25 million +