July still good news for Canberra sellers

The Canberra weekend home auction market continues to defy the usual winter blues with buyers and sellers still clearly active despite holiday distractions

Canberra recorded another solid auction clearance rate of 69.1 percent on Saturday which was lower than the 75.0 per cent reported over the previous weekend and also down on the 80.5 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

51 homes were listed to go under the hammer at the weekend which was well ahead of the 33 auctioned last weekend and also up on the 42 listed over the same weekend last year. Next weekend auction numbers will however be lower with 35 auctions scheduled.

Belconnen again reported the highest regional clearance rate at the weekend each with another strong 100 per cent result from 10 reported listings. Next highest was again Tuggeranong with 80.0 per cent followed by Woden Valley with 75.0 per cent, Gungahlin 60.0 per cent, Canberra Central 50.0 per cent and Weston Creek where the three reported auctions failed to sell under the hammer.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included a  6  bedroom home at 17 McLachlan  Crescent Weetangera sold for  $1,551,000 by Luton Properties, a  5  bedroom home at 67 Limestone  Avenue Braddon sold by One Agency Kippax for  $1,260,000, a  3  bedroom home at 8 Weld  Street Yarralumla sold for  $1,250,000 by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate, a  4  bedroom home at 36 Benaroon  Circuit Amaroo sold for  $960,000 by Morrissey Property Pty Ltd and a  4  bedroom home at 6 Werribee  Crescent Farrer sold by Peter Blackshaw Real Estate for  $861,000.

The most expensive property reported sold at auction was a  4  bedroom home at 38 Lynch  Street Hughes sold for  $1,701,000 by Total Property Sales. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a  3  bedroom home at 37 Dagmar Berne  Street MacGregor sold for  $450,000 by LJ Hooker Gungahlin.

For a list of Canberra auction results click here Canberra auction results July 8

Canberra recorded a median auction price of $665,500 on Saturday which was lower than the $685,000 reported over the previous weekend. A total of $18.6m was reported sold at auction in Canberra at the weekend.

New home building in Canberra continues to fall and with current housing demand clearly ahead of supply, prices and rents can be expected to keep rising.

Latest ABS data reports that Canberra recorded just 258 building approvals for dwellings over May which was 14.0 per cent fewer than the 300 approved recorded over April.

Canberra has now recorded only 1491 dwelling approvals over the first 5 months of this year which is a sharp decline of 41.4 per cent or a fall of 1052 compared to the same period last year.

Total capital city home building approvals have also fallen significantly this year so far compared to last year, down by 4154 or 7.7 per cent fewer.

Last week the Reserve Bank convened for its regular monthly meeting to determine the direction of official interest rates over June. Following better economic news this month, the Bank predicably decided to leave rates on hold at the record 1.5 percent where they have been since the last cut in August last year.

Optimism is now on the rise regarding the prospects of the national economy that primarily reflects a sharp fall in recent monthly jobless data and better retail sales numbers. Unemployment measures however are a lagging indicator of economic activity and trend retail sales remain relatively insipid. The recent sustained fall in planned home building provides some sobering news for the economy with more work still be done to lift out of the current doldrums.

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