Canberra market heating up into July

The Canberra weekend home auction market continues to rise recording its highest clearance rate for over a month and defying the usual winter slowdown in activity.

Canberra recorded a strong auction clearance rate of 75.0 percent on Saturday which was well ahead of the 70.2 per cent reported over the previous weekend and also well ahead of the 40.0 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year which was impacted by the distractions of Federal Election Day.

33 homes were listed to go under the hammer at the weekend which was lower than the 53 auctioned last weekend but well up on the 20 listed over the same weekend last year. Next weekend auction numbers will rise although still affected by school holidays with 50 auctions scheduled.

Belconnen again reported the highest regional clearance rate at the weekend each with a strong 100 per cent result from 9 reported listings. Next highest was again Canberra Central with 80.0 per cent followed by Woden Valley with 75.0 per cent, Tuggeranong and Weston Creek each with 50.0 per cent and Gungahlin with 42.9 per cent.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included a  3  bedroom home at 15 Stuart  Street Griffith sold for  $1,260,000 by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate, a  4  bedroom home at 57 Roma Mitchell  Crescent Watson sold for  $1,010,000 by Luton Properties – Dickson, a  5  bedroom home at 25 Benaroon  Circuit Amaroo sold for  $910,000 by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate, a  4  bedroom home at 6 Platypus  Place Nicholls also sold by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate for  $900,000 and another  4  bedroom home at 1/33 Campbell  Street Ainslie sold by LJ Hooker Dickson for  $877,500.

The most expensive property reported sold at auction was a  4  bedroom home at 12 Hicks  Street Red Hill sold for  $1,400,000 by LJ Hooker Manuka. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a  3  bedroom home at 38 Jacobs  Street Evatt sold for  $435,000 by IPG – Belconnen .

For a list of Canberra auction results click here Canberra auction results July 1

Canberra recorded a median auction price of $685,000 on Saturday which was higher than the $631,500 reported over the previous weekend. A total of $15.6m was reported sold at auction in Canberra at the weekend.

Although Saturday results have been stronger over the past two weekends , monthly data reveals that the Canberra home auction market tracked backwards over June.

Canberra recorded an overall home auction clearance rate over June of 64.7 per cent which was well down on the 69.2 percent 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.

This 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 percent 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 percent – the lowest result since February 2013.

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.