Melbourne Property Market prices drop 1% in June and what will be the impact of the second wave?

Over the weekend, the auction clearance rate increased to 72% which is an increase of 1% from last weekend and interestingly, an increase from 66% for the same time last year.  For the first time since March, we can accurately compare the clearance rates to last year as the number of auctions were similar with 300 over the weekend to 339 this time last year.  In addition there were 203 private sales.

Core Logic recently released its Monthly and Quarterly Melbourne Property Market reports which supports what we have been experiencing on the ground.  Their reports suggest that property prices in Melbourne dropped 1.1% in June 2020 and overall fell 2.3% in the June 2020 quarter.  These results are nowhere near the property price falls that many journalists and experts were predicting.  We were expecting these quarterly results to show small drops in property prices which resulted from the initial shock of Covid-19 hitting our shores and the lockdowns we had in March and April. This data also confirms how resilient the Melbourne Property Market is as we face the biggest challenge our country has ever seen. Many forget that we all still need to supply the basic need of shelter.

What impact will Melbourne’s second wave have on property prices?

We have become a lot more knowledgeable and experienced in how to carry on business with COVID-19 from the first wave.  Selling Agents will reimplement virtual tours again and online auctions are already set for areas in lockdown.   There is no doubt some vendors will put their selling plans on hold so we are likely to see stock levels fall even further.  On the flip side though it seems many buyers are just getting on with it as property prices remain stable.  First home buyers have been active all the way through but now investors are gaining confidence, as too are upsizers and downsizers.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook