Melbourne auctions begin to fade but some good news for sellers

Melbourne’s weekend home auction market continues to fade, with clearance rates falling for the third consecutive weekend.

Melbourne recorded a Saturday clearance rate of 74.5 percent which was again the lowest result since mid-February. The market trend is clearly on the downslope.

Saturday’s clearance rate was below the previous weekend’s 75.7 percent result and down again on the 77.7 percent recorded over the same weekend last year.  

Melbourne’s early spring selling season continues to track just below last year’s results at the same time with record numbers of auctions a key moderating force as supply rises towards demand.

There were 995 homes listed to go under the hammer on Saturday which was just below the previous weekend’s all-time record September Saturday of 1036 auctions. The weekend auction numbers were however just below the 1008 conducted over the same weekend last year, which was inflated by the usual pre-Grand Final Super Saturday auction surge.

Although clearance rates have faded marginally over recent weekends, the local market continues to report remarkably consistent results amongst the suburban regions.

Top performer on Saturday was the north with a strong clearance rate of 81.7 percent. Next highest was the north east with 78.4 per cent, closely followed by the inner city with 78.3 per cent, the outer east on 76.9 per cent, the south east with 76.3 per cent, the inner south on 76 percent, the inner east at 71.4 per cent and the west with a clearance rate of 68.2 per cent.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included a five bedroom home at 33 Service Street, Hampton, sold for $3.9 million by Marshall White, a four bedroom home at 16 Orchard Street, Brighton, sold for $3,761,000 by Marshall White, a three bedroom home at 6 Moore Street, Hawthorn, sold by Jellis Craig for  $3,750,000, a five bedroom home at 55 Gordon Street, Balwyn, sold for $3,510,000 by Hocking Stuart and a four bedroom home at 33 Staughton Road, Glen Iris, sold by Marshall White for $2,923,000. 

The most expensive property reported sold at auction at the weekend was a six bedroom home at 29 Kintore Street, Camberwell, sold for $7,700,000 by Marshall White. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a one bedroom unit at 8/4 Prince Street, Essendon North, sold for $237,000 by Considine Real Estate.

Although the clearance rate was down again marginally at the weekend, Melbourne’s trend auction price continues to rise – up from the previous weekends $798,972 to $806,222. Local trend auction prices are now 10.2 percent higher than the $731,875 recorded over the same weekend last year.

Although the Melbourne weekend auction market has faded over recent weekends, local conditions clearly remain in favour of sellers. Similar results between regions and price ranges also reflect the relatively healthy nature of the early spring market.

Another significant test however looms for the local market next weekend with the pre-Grand Final Super Saturday of auctions arriving a week later this year, with the big game scheduled for the following Saturday, October 3.

Sellers will again flood the market to avoid the distractions of the final with an all-time September record of nearly 1100 Saturday auctions set to be established.

It means more choice for buyers and more competition between sellers.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Senior Economist