Canberra winter market cooling

The Canberra weekend home auction market has eased over recent weekends with buyer and seller activity backtracking as the usual mid-winter hiatus impacts results.

Canberra recorded a clearance rate of 62.5 percent on Saturday which was lower than the 69.1 per cent reported over the previous weekend but higher than the 61.5 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

36 homes were listed to go under the hammer at the weekend which was well down on the 51 auctioned last weekend but higher than the 26 listed over the same weekend last year. Next weekend auction numbers will be similar to this weekend’s offering with 36 auctions again scheduled.

Woden Valley reported the highest regional clearance rate with a 100 per cent result from the three reported auctions. Next highest was Gungahlin with 75 per cent followed by Canberra Central and Tuggeranong each with 66.7 per cent and Belconnen with 42.9 per cent.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included a  4  bedroom home at 31 Captain Cook  Crescent Griffith sold for  $1,515,000 by Belle Property Kingston, a  3  bedroom home at 34 Elimatta  Street Reid sold for  $1,360,000 by Wright Dunn Real Estate, a  5  bedroom home at 14 Eric Mawson  Street Harrison sold by Canberra Property Partners for  $1,260,000, a  3  bedroom home at 48 MacGregor  Street Deakin sold for  $1,055,000 by Belle Property Kingston and a  4  bedroom home at 2 Cameron  Street Farrer sold by IPG Woden Weston Creek for  $920,000.

The most expensive property reported sold at auction was a  5  bedroom home at 3B Arkana  Street Yarralumla sold for  $2,460,000 by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a  3  bedroom home at 41 McKinley  Circuit Calwell sold for  $450,000 by Luton Properties.

For a list of Canberra auction results click here Canberra auction results July 15

Canberra recorded a median auction price of $810,000 on Saturday which was higher than the $665,000 reported over the previous weekend. A total of $16.3m was reported sold at auction in Canberra at the weekend.

Canberra residential investors continue to charge into the local market and remain a key driving force for recent strong price growth.

Latest ABS date reveals that the value of residential investment loans soared by 24.1 per cent over May to $229.5m. Although a solid May increase in investor lending was expected following the holiday month of April, the result was 13.5 percent higher than that recorded over May last year and the highest monthly total so far this year.

The ACT has recorded residential investor lending of $948.7m over the first five months of this year which is a sharp increase of 24.6 per cent compared to the same period last year.   The full year to date growth comparisons also continue to escalate up by 18.2 percent to the year ending May compared to the previous year and with the trend still rising.

Reflecting concerns over perceived housing risks from a notional spectre of sharply rising interest rates, APRA the financial regulator has instigated policies designed to tighten bank mortgage lending to residential investors. The latest ABS data indicates that despite lending restrictions, investor activity remains unquestionably strong in the ACT which will be a relief for tenants where vacancies are scarce and rents are rising.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Chief Economist Twitter@DocAndrewWilson join on LinkedIn and Facebook at MyHousingMarket.