Hi ,

The REIV clearance rate slightly dropped over the weekend to 73% with some buyers wanting to hold off buying until after the election.  There could be a small window of opportunity for buyers in the marketplace however we did still see some competitive auctions over the weekend.  Of the 574 auctions reported to the REIV,  314 sold at auction, 101 sold before auction, 2 after auction and there were an additional 157 private sales.

Last week the inevitable happened with the Reserve Bank of Australia increasing the nation’s official cash rate for the first time in 11 years.  The increase was 25 basis points from 0.10 per cent to 0.35 per cent.  There is no doubt this, and the election have slowed down the property market.  Buyers are a little more cautious and being firm with budgets (mostly) but stock levels have also declined which will in turn is keeping the market balanced.

I am expecting the next couple of weeks to be a little quiet in the property market, which MAY lead to the odd opportunity for buyers.  However, once the election is done, and people become more accustomed to rising interest rates, I am predicting the property market will become much more active.  The reality is that money is still cheap and will be for a long time, we have just been lucky enough to enjoy very low interest rates for quite some time.

An interesting auction of 24 Hotham Street, Hughesdale has interest from 4 bidders.  The land site (knock down house) gained good interest, which is a little surprising with some buyers being worried about building costs in the current climate. That didn’t deter these bidders though with the auction starting at a very conservative at $800,000 but moved very quickly to $960,000 (above the reserve price).  The bidding kept going where it sold for $1,201,000.

4 Akeroa Avenue, Brunswick East was another strongly contested auction.  The bidding started at $1,300,000 and within no time at all the bidding reached $1,540,000.    The three bedroom, one bathroom home on 409 sqm ended up selling for $1,580,000 under the hammer.

Have a great week.

Kim Easterbrook