Arriving at the final month of 2014 and buyers have been very active, with plenty of choice still remaining. 1,347 auctions were reported this weekend with a clearance rate of 69 per cent. From those auctions 926 properties sold and 421 were passed in, 192 of those on a vendor bid. In addition to the auctions, there were also 468 private sales reported, which is the most we’ve seen in a while.
Recent reports about the Melbourne market having a dip in values may be driving more buyers out of the woodwork, hoping to snap up a bargain. Of the auctions we attended on the weekend, there was undoubtedly some competitive bidding going on from multiple interested parties. The inner ring around the CBD, within 10 kilometres of the city remains highly sought after, benefitting from the most advantaged infrastructre such as transport links and lifestyle. This may be a pre-Christmas property rush, or it might just be the perfect time to buy.
The REIV have reported that the Spring auction market had two record weekends in the past five weeks, resulting in the strongest Spring that Melbourne has seen in terms of volume. Property in Melbourne has shown healthy growth this year, for the year to date, house values have risen by 6.5 per cent, and units by 1.6 per cent (source: RP Data Core Logic). Coupled with a slightly higher number of transactions that last year, the market could be described as moderate, not booming.
The year continues on with another large number of auctions expected next weekend – at 1,299.
