The Sydney home auction market produced a stunning result at the weekend, despite the significant dual constraints of a record Saturday for early-February listings and also record summer heat.
Sydney recorded a remarkable boom-time weekend clearance rate of 84.2 per cent, which was well ahead of last week’s 78.8 per cent and also nearly 10 per cent higher than the 74.3 per cent recorded over the same weekend last year.
About 540 homes were listed for auction in Sydney on Saturday, which was a record early-February offering, predictably well ahead of the 231 auctioned last weekend and significantly higher than the 358 listed over the same weekend last year.
Inner suburban regions were again the top performers in Sydney at the weekend, which continued the consistent trend of most of the past year.
The top clearance rate was recorded by the lower north with a booming 94.6 per cent, followed by the inner west with 93.3 per cent and the most sales at 56.
The city and east had a clearance rate of 88.1 per cent, Canterbury Bankstown with 83.3 per cent, the central coast with 82.4 per cent, the upper north shore with 82 per cent and the south west with 81.8 per cent.
The northern beaches had a clearance rate just under 80 per cent at 79.5 per cent, while the south and the north west each recorded a 78.3 per cent clearance rate. The west trailed at 68.4 per cent and the Blue Mountains even less at 50 per cent.
Sydney recorded a median auction price of $1.2 million on Saturday, which was higher than the $1.1 million reported the previous weekend and 15.2 per cent higher than the $1,041,500 recorded over the same weekend last year. A total of $331.9 million was reported sold at auction in Sydney at the weekend.
The only thing hotter than Sydney’s record-breaking summer temperatures was the seemingly irresistible local auction market, however, another big test awaits next weekend with nearly 700 homes set to go under the hammer.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia met for the first time this year to decide the level of official interest rates for February. The RBA, as expected, decided to leave rates on hold for the fifth consecutive month at the record low 1.5 per cent.
The chance of a near-term cut by the bank, however, surely remains unless the economy improves. Recent economic data has been underwhelming, with the national jobless rate rising to 5.8 per cent over December — the highest result for the year — and retail sales falling over December.
Article by: www.domain.com.au / (Dr Andrew Wilson)
https://www.domain.com.au/news/sydney-property-market-stuns-with-boomtime-result-despite-record-auctions-and-heat-20170212-guax92/