Sydney spring market opens with record-level buyer energy

The last weekend in August typically heralds the beginning of the robust Sydney spring home season with relatively high numbers of auctions signalling the end of the more subdued winter market.

This weekend will be no exception with a surge in listings although numbers remain well below last year’s totals at the same time.  More than 550 homes are likely to go under the hammer on Saturday in Sydney which will be well ahead of last weekend’s 492 and the highest weekend offering since the pre-election rush of 632 recorded on June 25.

This weekend’s auctions, however, will be significantly less than the record 811 auctioned over the same season-opening Saturday last year and continues the pattern of lower listings evident for most of this year. But Saturday’s numbers are similar to the auctions on the last weekend of August in 2014 and 2013.

So far this year 4653 fewer weekend auctions have been listed, which is a steep fall of 24.3 per cent compared  with the same period last year.

Sydney’s city and east suburban region will host the highest number of auctions this weekend with 86 followed by the inner west 81, the south 78, the upper north shore 74, the lower north 52, the south west 42, the northern beaches 41, the west 36, Canterbury Bankstown 34, the north west 19, the central coast 15 and the Blue Mountains with one auction scheduled on Saturday.

Randwick is Sydney’s most popular auction suburb this weekend with eight followed by Chatswood, Marrickville and Wahroonga each with seven, Blacktown and Cremorne each with six and several suburbs with five auctions listed including Maroubra, St Ives, Drummoyne, Paddington and Coogee.

Sydney’s booming late-winter home auction market is steaming into spring recording unprecedented results from the strongest late-winter market on record.

Sydney recorded an astonishing 84.1 per cent clearance rate last weekend, the highest August result ever recorded and just ahead of the previous high 84 per cent set on August 31, 2013. Last Saturday’s rate was higher than the previous weekend’s strong 82.8 per cent result and well above the 76.4 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.

Regional rates revealed that boom-time results were again consistent through most suburbs, with all but one region recording clearance rates at or above 80 per cent.

The Sydney market enters the spring-selling season on the crest of a wave of super-charged buyer enthusiasm at its highest levels since the peak of the last year’s boom in June. 

The local market fell away sharply over spring last year as confidence was affected by higher interest rates from banks responding to policy changes from financial regulators. The market is clearly now moving back into overdrive with the clear prospect of a continuation of the price  growth that revived sharply over the June quarter.

Dr Andrew Wilson is Domain Group’s chief economist

Twitter @DocAndrewWilson