Melbourne auction market starts slowly – but wait

The Melbourne weekend auction season re-commenced for 2017 on Saturday after a five weekend holiday break and produced mixed results for the small number sellers testing the early season market.

Although auction numbers were predictably low for a late January holiday-impacted weekend, the 45 homes listed were nonetheless significantly down on the 100 listings recorded over the same season opening weekend last year.

Low auction numbers can result in misleading insights into the underlying nature of the housing market with a more robust understanding to be revealed as listings climb sharply over coming weekends. Melbourne recorded a clearance rate of 70.0 per cent on Saturday which was a little below the 74.1 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

The north east, the outer east, the west and the inner east all reported 100 per cent clearance rates at the weekend from low listing numbers.  Next highest was the south east with 50 per cent followed by the north with a clearance rate of 42.9 per cent. The inner south and the inner city did not report auction results on the weekend

Notable auction sales reported at the weekend included a 3 bedroom home at 999A Riversdale Road Surrey Hills sold by Fletchers for $1,205,000, another  3  bedroom home at 8 Lincoln  Avenue Glen Waverley sold for  $925,000 by Harcourts, a  3  bedroom home at 2/28 Heatherdale  Road Mitcham sold for  $825,000 by Noel Jones, a  2  bedroom unit at 1/10 Florence  Road Surrey Hills sold for  $813,000 by Fletchers and a  6  bedroom home at 54 Noorong  Avenue Bundoora sold by Ray White for  $670,000.

The most expensive property reported sold at auction at the weekend was a 4 bedroom home at 2 Rainbow Court Mount Waverley sold for $1,455,000 by Barry Plant. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a 3 bedroom home at 67 Gateshead Street Craigieburn sold for $428,000 by Ray White.

For a list of Melbourne weekend auction results click here Melbourne weekend auction results

Melbourne recorded a median auction price of $741,500 on Saturday which was 30.0 percent higher than the $570,500 recorded over the same weekend last year. A total of $7.9m was reported sold at auction in Melbourne at the weekend.

The 2017 Melbourne home auction season has commenced slowly but numbers will be significantly higher next weekend when nearly 200 properties set to go under the hammer. Auction market activity will likely continue this year where it left off last year with sellers generally with the upper hand in the market – particularly in the north, west and outer east suburbs.

Melbourne recorded a clearance rate of 75.1 percent over December 2016 which was just slightly down from the year’s peak monthly result of 75.7 percent recorded over September. Clearance rates were remarkable consistent throughout spring until years end with no real sign of a significant fade out despite a surge in listings providing more choice for buyers and more competition for sellers.

But now it’s a whole new year.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Chief Economist Twitter@DocAndrewWilson join on LinkedIn