Sydney auction market bounces back with highest clearance rates in a month

Sydney’s auction market bounced back at the weekend recording its highest clearance rate in a month and sharply reversing the recent falling trend in activity.

Sydney reported a clearance rate of 73.2 per cent on Saturday which was well ahead of the 67.1 per cent recorded the previous weekend but still below the 77.1 per cent reported over the same weekend last year.

The weekend revival may indicate increased motivation from sellers in a perceived fading market with the median auction price falling and most regions recording lower auction prices compared to the previous weekend’s results. 

The number of properties reported sold before auction in Sydney also soared over the weekend, increasing by 33 per cent to 145 compared to the previous weekend’s 109 with sellers clearly keen to secure a sale from a diminishing number of buyers.  

Auction numbers were also higher at the weekend with 683 listed compared to the previous weekend’s 650 and well ahead of the 567 auctioned over the same weekend last year. The local market will be sternly tested next weekend with a surge in activity with more than 750 homes set to go under the hammer – the highest offering for three months.

Sydney recorded a median auction price of $1.25 million on Saturday which was lower than the $1,271,000 reported the previous weekend and also just below the $1.26 million recorded over the same weekend last year. A total of $376.2 million worth of property was reported sold at auction in Sydney at the weekend.

Low and falling interest rates have been a key catalyst that has driven the Sydney home auction market over the past five years. Official rates however have now remained at current levels for more than a year with the Reserve Bank deciding, predictably, to continue its recent stance of steady rates over September.

Despite the recently steady official interest rate policy, the national economy continues to produce modest results.

The ABS has released the latest GDP economic growth data for the June quarter which revealed a national increase of 0.8 per cent over the quarter and a rise of 1.8 per cent over the year.

• Related: Click here for Saturday’s auction results
• Related: Click here for the Market Snapshot
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Although the quarterly result was an improvement on the 0.3 per cent recorded over the previous quarter, the annual growth rate together with the previous March quarter result remain the lowest reported for any quarter since the 1.2 per cent recorded over the September quarter 2009 which was clearly impacted by the GFC.

NSW also recorded improved economic growth over the June quarter with state final demand increasing by 1.2 per cent following an increase of 0.2 per cent over the previous March quarter and increased by 2.4 per cent over the year.

Inner-suburban, higher-priced regions led the Sydney market revival at the weekend with some strong results, although outer suburban areas continue to produce the improved, solid results of recent weekends. However, auction clearance rates in the inner-west continue to track sharply lower with that market clearly losing its boom-time energy of recent years.

The northern beaches returned to the top of the regional pack with a weekend clearance rate of 84.6 per cent, closely followed by the city and east with 83.6 per cent, then a gap to the upper north shore with 73.6 per cent, the south-west 72.7 per cent, the lower north was sharply higher this weekend with 71.9 per cent, the south 70.8 per cent, Canterbury Bankstown 70.6 per cent, the north-west 70.4 per cent, the west 67.4 per cent, the inner-west 65.6 per cent and the Central Coast with a clearance rate of 57.9 per cent.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included:

• A four-bedroom home at 24 Milray Avenue Wollstonecraft sold for $5.68 million by Simeon Manners,
• Another four-bedroom home at 19A Gardyne Street Bronte sold for $4.9 million by Raine and Horne Bondi Junction,
• A four-bedroom home at 32 Hewlett Street Bronte sold for $4,425,000 by PhillipsPantzer Donnelley,
• Another four-bedroom home at 16 Eurobin Avenue Manly sold by Cunninghams Property for $3.72 million
• And a three-bedroom home at 2 Palmerston Place Seaforth sold for $3.45 million by Belle Property Seaforth.

The most expensive house reported sold at auction was a six-bedroom home at 33 Pymble Avenue Pymble sold by Sotheby’s Realty for $5.7 million. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a one-bedroom unit at 4/134-136 Frederick Street Ashfield sold for $510,000 by Elders Inner West.