Sydney property market still hot as summer sellers surge, not deterring buyers

The Sydney home auction market continued its hot summer performance at the weekend, with the end of year rush by sellers failing to dent buyer demand. 

Sydney recorded another rock solid result for sellers on Saturday with a clearance rate of 76.2 per cent, which was just ahead of the 75.8 per cent recorded the previous weekend and significantly ahead of the 58.1 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

Although clearance rates have eased over recent weekends, this reflects the typical flood of year-end listings, providing buyers with more choice and sellers with more competition. Results, however, remain clearly in favour of sellers generally with the local auction market set to conclude a strong and consistent year of buyer activity.       

More than 900 homes were listed for auction at the weekend, which was higher than the 877 auctioned over the previous weekend and also significantly higher than the 734 listed over the same weekend last year. Sydney will host well over 600 auctions next Saturday, which will be the highest final weekend offering for the city on record.

Regional results at the weekend followed the pattern that has been familiar for most of the year, with higher-priced, inner suburban areas producing significantly higher clearance rates compared to the middle and outer western suburbs.

The top performer was again the Blue Mountains, where the two reported auctions sold under the hammer for a 100 per cent clearance rate. The next highest was the lower north with 86 per cent, followed by the inner west with 85.3 per cent and the highest sales at 87, the upper north shore with 82.2 per cent, the city and east with 81.9 per cent, the northern beaches with 79.5 per cent, the south with 75.5 per cent, the central coast with 70 per cent, the west with 69.1 per cent, the north west with 66.7 per cent, Canterbury Bankstown with 60.7 per cent and the south west with a clearance rate of 54.3 per cent.

Notable sales reported at the weekend included:

• a four-bedroom home at 15 Inverallan Avenue, West Pymble sold for $4,274,500 by Savills Cordeau Marshall St Ives;
• a five-bedroom home at 15 Fleming Street, Northwood sold by McGrath Lane Cove for $4.2 million;
• a four-bedroom home at 43 Jersey Road, Woollahra sold for $4.15 million by BresicWhitney Darlinghurst;
• a four-bedroom home at 3 Elfrida Street, Mosman sold for $4.01 million by McGrath Mosman.

The most expensive property reported sold at auction at the weekend was a three-bedroom home at 33 Burnell Street, Russell Lea, which sold for $5.61 million by Warwick Williams Real Estate. The most affordable property reported sold at the weekend was a two-bedroom unit at 6/586-588 Punchbowl Road, Lakemba, which sold for $385,000 by LJ Hooker Rockdale.

For a list of Sydney weekend auction results click here.

Sydney recorded a median auction price of $1.25 million on Saturday, which was higher than the $1.2 million recorded the previous weekend. Saturday’s median was 21.2 per cent higher than the $1,031,500 recorded over the same weekend last year. A total of $551.4 million was reported sold at auction in Sydney at the weekend.

The Reserve Bank of Australia, as expected, decided to leave interest rates on hold again at the record low 1.5 per cent at its final meeting of the year last week. The RBA is not scheduled to meet again until next February.

Although rates remained on hold, recent economic data has been mixed at best, with growing signs of a further slowdown in economic activity. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the national economy contracted sharply over the September quarter by 0.5 per cent – the first quarterly decline since March 2011. 

Unless there is an improvement in the national economy, the likelihood remains of further cuts in official rates next year to stimulate an increasing stagnant performance – regardless of the nature of prices growth in the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group Chief Economist Twitter@DocAndrewWilson join on LinkedIn and listen 2UE Lifestyle Radio Fridays 11am and Mondays 5pm