Melbourne auctions show strength despite Christmas

Melbourne is set to host another strong weekend of auctions despite the looming Christmas shutdown in a fortnight.

More than 1350 homes are listed to go under the hammer for the second consecutive summer Saturday, reflecting ongoing late-season confidence in the local market by sellers. 

Although this weekend’s offerings will be below last weekend’s 1445 auctions, numbers remain well ahead of the 1327 listed over the same weekend last year.

High listings will continue to test the Melbourne market with a record-breaking end to the year expected next weekend which will result in the highest number of auctions ever conducted over December.

Melbourne’s west will host the most auctions this weekend with 239 followed by the north-east 208, the inner south 200, the outer east 192, the inner city 153, the inner east 147, the north 119 and the south-east 90.

The most popular suburb for auctions in Melbourne this weekend is Reservoir, with a remarkable 37 homes due to go under the hammer. Next highest is Mount Waverley with 26, followed by Richmond 19, Glen Waverley, Preston and Newport each with 18 and Northcote with 17 auctions listed.

Although Melbourne recorded its lowest clearance of the year last Saturday it was nonetheless a reasonable result on a day that almost broke the record for summer auction activity.

Melbourne reported a weekend clearance rate of 65 per cent, below the previous weekend’s 66.2 per cent and also below the 70.1 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

Melbourne has now recorded clearance rates below 70 per cent on six consecutive weekends for the first time since the winter of 2013. Although the market has tracked backwards over spring, record auction listings have been a significant contributing factor to easing clearance rates.

Despite a relatively softer spring, the Melbourne auction market remains the strongest of all the capitals and is now well ahead of Sydney, which reported a clearance rate of 57.5 per cent last weekend.

Melbourne’s auction market continues to record remarkably consistent and similar results between suburban regions and price ranges. The eastern suburbs, however, continue to track at the bottom of regional results. 

Melbourne’s trend weekend auction price increased again at the weekend up from the previous weekend’s $768,438 to $771,250. The weekend trend price remains 3.3 per cent higher than the $746,972 recorded over the same weekend last year.

The inner city recorded the highest median house auction price on Saturday at $1.23 million followed by the inner east $1.17 million, the inner south $992,500, the outer east $880,000, the north-east $740,000, the west $721,000, the south-east $646,000 and the north $630,000.

Although clearance rates have typically eased over the spring selling season, Melbourne buyers and sellers can remain quietly confident regarding their prospects for the remaining two weekends of the year. 

Despite falling clearance rates, the Melbourne market can be pleased with its resilient performance this year and now takes the lead from Sydney as the nation’s strongest capital city market and where it is likely to stay – at least for a while.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group’s senior economist

@DocAndrewWilson