With a record number of properties up for auction on the weekend it was a real test of the strength of the Melbourne property market – and it came through okay.
The auction clearance rate stayed almost the same as the previous weekend, finishing at 66.2 per cent, a drop of just 0.1 per cent from last week.
While it’s been a few weeks in a row now of below-70 per cent clearance rates, the whole month of spring has seen a clearance rate of 70.1 per cent, and that’s around 5 per cent lower than the same time last year.
Melbourne’s auction clearance rates may be down a little but it has been an all-time record spring for total number of auction sales, including last weekend’s super Saturday featuring over 1600 homes going under the hammer.
While super Saturday has been and gone, there’s still over 3000 auctions yet to hit the market before 2015 is out, and that’s probably going to be a record for December as well.
After surviving the test on Saturday of 1600 auctions all in the one day, confidence in the market remains vigorous and it’s in a healthy state.
Rising mortgage rates from banks have slowed the market a little after RBA cuts to the official cash rate had given things a kick along.
The RBA will meet this week for the final time this year and most economists expect them to keep interest rates on hold until they next meet again in February next year.
