Sydney mid-spring market in top shape for sellers

Higher listings numbers will again greet the Sydney home auction market this weekend following last weekend’s full resumption in activity after the Grand Finals holiday pause a fortnight ago.

More than 660 homes will again go under the hammer in Sydney this Saturday, likely only marginally more than the 651 auctioned last weekend. And, again, this weekend’s auction offerings will be considerably below the 870 auctioned over the same weekend last year.

Auction numbers continue to track about 30 per cent lower than those recorded over spring last year.

The inner west is again the most popular region in Sydney this weekend for auctions with 113 listed followed by the south 94, the upper north shore 83, the city and east 81, the lower north 59, the south west 58, Canterbury Bankstown 44, the west 42, the northern beaches 41, the north west 24, the central coast 18 and the Blue Mountains with three auctions so far scheduled on Saturday.

Earlwood is the most popular suburb in Sydney for auctions this weekend, with nine, followed by Randwick, Mosman, Rozelle, Bexley and Croydon Park each with eight, and several suburbs with seven auctions listed including Blacktown, Darlinghurst, Eastwood, Chatswood and Leichhardt.

Sydney recorded an auction clearance rate of 78.8 per cent last Saturday, higher than the previous Saturday’s 76.6 per cent but again well ahead of the 70 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

Although still unequivocally a good result for sellers, last weekend’s rate was slightly down on the levels recorded over the past two months, which have established an 80 per cent plus benchmark on most weekends.

Weaker results from Sydney’s middle and outer western suburbs have pushed the overall clearance rate down in recent weekends, but inner suburban regions continue to record extraordinary boom-time rates.

Strong auction market activity is predictably translating to higher prices, which will be welcomed by Sydney home owners. Potential first-home buyers, however, will not welcome higher prices that will act to offset the benefits of current record-low interest rate and a highly competitive lending environment.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data reports that loans to NSW first-home buyers increased marginally by 0.7 per cent over August to 1347 – still the second lowest monthly result since January. Lending to local first-home buyers has now declined significantly by 7.5 per cent over the first eight months of this year compared with the same period last year.

The average first-home-buyer loan reported over August was $365,900 – a steep increase of 4 per cent over the month and the highest result for the year so far.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group’s chief economist

Twitter @DocAndrewWilson

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