Quieter weekend for Melbourne market as autumn fades

The Melbourne market will start the final month of autumn this weekend with auction numbers well down which is likely to continue to fuel intense competition amongst buyers.

Just over 650 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer this Saturday which will be well down on the 1047 conducted last weekend and also lower than the 909 listed over the same weekend last year.

Melbourne’s west will again be the most popular region for auctions on Saturday with 133 followed again also by the north east 98, the outer east 79, the north 72, the inner south 77, the north 72, the inner east 61, the inner city 54 the south east with 51 auctions listed this weekend.

Glen Waverley, Epping and Reservoir will host the most suburban auctions this weekend each with 12 followed by St Albans 11, Thomastown 10, Craigieburn 9, and a number of suburbs with 8 auctions scheduled including Hopper Crossing, Richmond, Rowville and Brunswick West.

The hot Melbourne home auction market recorded a strong result for sellers last weekend as the local market fully re-focussed after the lengthy holiday breaks of the past month.

Melbourne recorded a clearance rate of 81.7 percent last Saturday which was higher than the previous weekends 79.5 per cent recorded the previous weekend and well ahead of the 75.0 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

Although last Saturdays result was the second highest recorded for the year so far, Melbourne weekend auction clearance rates have still averaged 79.9 percent since February providing sellers with plenty of confidence.

The Melbourne home auction market surged over April despite the distractions of holidays recording an overall strong clearance rate of 78.1 per cent. This was well ahead of the 75.3 per cent recorded over the previous month and significantly higher than the 71.6 per cent recorded over April last year.

The Melbourne median auction price however fell over April reflecting a lower proportion of higher-priced suburbs listed over the holiday month. The median was down to $825,000 compared to March $885,000 but remained well ahead of the $755,000 median auction price recorded over April last year.

11,115 Melbourne homes were reported listed for auction over the first 4 months of this year which was an increase of 15.1 per cent compared to the 9659 listed over the same period last year.

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