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The Sydney home auction market recorded its highest result of the year with an 86 per cent clearance rate, according to Australian Property Monitors (APM).
A total of 780 auctions took place on Saturday, adding to the irrepressible appetite for Sydney property according to APM senior economist Andrew Wilson.
“Sydney homebuyers remain hungry for property, with four consecutive weekends in February reporting auction clearance rates at or above 80 per cent,” Mr Wilson said.
“These are unprecedented results for this time of the year.
“The average weekend clearance rate this month, at 84 per cent, is just below the all-time monthly record of 84.8 per cent recorded over September last year.”
Mr Wilson expects prices growth to follow strong clearance rates, with the median house price for properties sold at auction on Saturday at $1,100,000 – up from last weekend’s median of $1,010,000
“February’s record-breaking Sydney weekend auction market is set to continue into March with no sign of a let up in buyer or seller enthusiasm. In fact, activity shows every sign of intensifying over the coming month with bank mortgage interest rates continuing to fall,” he said.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW), 81 per cent of NSW properties cleared at auction in the last week for a total volume of $382.6 million.
“There were 556 auctions reported to the REINSW this week, with 452 selling and 104 being passed in – 10 of those on a vendor bid,” REINSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said.
In Victoria, the home auction market is also strengthening.
“A clearance rate of 76 per cent was recorded this weekend, compared to 70 per cent last weekend and 72 per cent this weekend last year,” Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) chief executive Enzo Raimondo said.
There were 1,119 auctions reported to the REIV this weekend, with 845 selling and 274 being passed in – 148 of those on a vendor bid.
Over 1,000 homes have already been sold by auction so far this year, representing a solid start to 2014.
“Next weekend, the REIV expects around 1,290 auctions,” Mr Raimondo said.
Melbourne’s weekend auction market produced its best result of the year so far and its best result since the pre-Grand Final weekend of September 21 last year, according to APM.
“The weekend auction clearance rate of 77.3 per cent was the fourth consecutive weekend rate in the mid-70s and brings the average for the month of February to 75.2 per cent, which is the highest monthly average since October last year,” APM’s Mr Wilson said.
A total of 1,140 homes were listed for auction in Melbourne at the weekend, which was over 500 greater than last weekend’s 616 and ahead of the 957 auctioned over the same weekend last year.
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