Canberra home auction market holds firm despite high number of listings

The Canberra home auction market has started the autumn selling season with solid results for sellers despite a record deluge of listings.

Canberra recorded an auction clearance rate of 68.6 per cent over March which although lower than the 73.3 per cent reported over February, was higher than the 65.5 per cent recorded over March last year.

The March clearance rate was the highest recorded for that month by the Canberra market since the 68.9 per cent reported over March 2007 and also the third highest March result on record.

Solid clearance rates have been recorded despite a remarkable rush to market by sellers that has tested the local market with an unprecedented number of autumn auction listings.

Some 350 auctions were scheduled over March, which was higher than the 311 listed over February and well ahead of the 261 reported over March last year. This year’s March listing total was clearly the highest recorded by Canberra over that month and also the fourth highest number of auctions for any month.

Canberra recorded a median auction price of $711,000 over March, which was lower than the $730,000 recorded over February but 6 per cent higher than the $671,000 recorded over March last year.

Belconnen recorded Canberra’s highest regional auction clearance rate over March with 79.5 per cent from 83 auction listings. Next highest was Woden Valley with 71.4 per cent from 38 listings followed by Canberra Central, 72.0 per cent and 92 listings, Gungahlin, 65.1 per cent from 49 listings, Tuggeranong, 62.0 per cent and 54 listings and Weston Creek, with a clearance rate of 61.3 per cent from 34 auctions.

A number of Canberra suburbs reported 100 per cent clearance rates over March, with the top performer Wanniassa with seven auction sales followed by Hackett, six, Waramanga, five, and a number with four sales including Deakin, Garran, Holder and Holt.

Low interest rates, an improving local economy, higher migration and rising buyer and seller confidence continue to produce solid results for the Canberra housing market.

Next week the Reserve Bank meets for the third time this month to decide the direction of official interest rates over April. Although the Bank will almost certainly decide to leave rates where they have been since the cut to 1.5 per cent last August, the Australian economy is not out of the woods yet and may need some further stimulus from monetary policy sooner rather than later.

The latest national jobless data is at a year-high 5.9 per cent and full-time jobs are also well down over the past year. And the unemployment rates in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth are significantly higher than they were a year ago.

Andrew Wilson is Domain Group chief economist. Twitter@DocAndrewWilson

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