Home stretch for Sydney winter auction market

The Sydney home auction market will commence the final month of winter with buyer and seller activity settling following the mid-year surge of previous weekends.

Over 500 homes are again set to go under the hammer in Sydney this weekend which will be similar to the 537 auctioned last weekend but again well ahead of the 396 listed over the same weekend last year.

The inner west will again be Sydney’s most popular region for auctions this weekend with 70 homes listed to go under the hammer.  Next highest is the south with 64 followed by the upper north shore 49, the northern beaches 46, the south west 45, the west 44, the city and east and Canterbury Bankstown each with 39, the lower north 36, the north west 31 and the central coast with 22 auctions listed.

Blacktown will host the most suburban auctions this weekend in Sydney with 9 followed by Manly  8, Wahroonga with 7 and a number of suburbs with 5 auctions scheduled including Mosman, Surry Hills, Castle Hill, Balgowlah and Redfern.

The Sydney home auction market eased last weekend recording its lowest result for a month and following four consecutive weekends of rising buyer activity.

Sydney reported a clearance rate of 69.7 per cent last Saturday which was lower than the previous weekends 73.1 per cent result and lower than the 75.7 per cent reported over the same weekend last year.

Although last Saturday’s rate was down on those recorded over recent weekends, the local market has averaged 71.1 per cent over July which remains a solid result for mid-winter sellers.

Regional results were down across the board last Saturday with only one area reporting a clearance rate above 80 per cent.

This week the Reserve Bank met to decide the direction of official interest rates over August with the predictable result that rates will remain at the current 1.5 per cent for the 12th consecutive month. Latest economic data however remains mixed with the ABS national June jobless rate at a four year low but rates in Melbourne and Brisbane increasing sharply over the past year and now over 6.0 per cent.

The ABS June quarter headline inflation result was disappointing increasing by just 0.2 percent over the quarter and up by 1.9 per cent over the year – below the RBA’s notional target range of 2 to 3 per cent. The recent trend of underlying inflation however has improved marginally although remaining at low levels.

The recent surge in the Australian dollar would also concern the RBA following misguided speculation regarding potential increases in local interest rates and being sustained by a lower US dollar. Nonetheless the Reserve Bank is likely to persist with is recent medium-term view of economic activity with rates likely to remain on hold for the rest of the year.

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