Melbourne Auction Results – October 19th, 2015

Are we becoming a nation of renters? In this week’s wrap Peter Sarmas looks at the latest housing occupancy data released last week. He comments on the Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Review report and gives an insight into the current condition of Melbourne’s real estate market.

A clearance rate of 74 per cent was recorded this weekend compared to 72 per cent last weekend and 72 per cent this weekend last year. There were 1101 auctions reported to the REIV this weekend, with 816 selling and 285 being passed in, 124 of those on a vendor bid.

Bayside suburbs have attracted strong competition in recent months, with Brighton, Seaford and Dromana topping the list for price growth in the September quarter.

Photo Source: news.com.au

Doomsayers Out In Force!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, so say the doomsayers who have been waiting for over 5 years for the property market to correct but, has it really in Melbourne? Even a broken clock is right twice a day so surely we must be heading for a crash? Not from what we have witnessed firsthand at auctions and not by what was reported by real estate agents in key areas.

This weekend’s auction clearance rate of 74% is certainly no slump and is, in fact, in line with last year’s recorded 72% clearance (REIV). A massive 1400 auctions were set to go under the hammer however, only 1101 were reported to the REIV. Despite this anomaly, quality properties are still getting “mopped up” post auction and the drop in clearance rates from earlier this year are due more to the amount of supply rather than a correction, at this point in time anyway.

If we consider the volume of properties coming onto the market, in comparison to previous months this year, there is no doubt clearance rates will trend downwards until such time as supply and demand are balanced again and tightening of stock tips the scales towards stable property prices with single digit growth, rather than the 14.2% growth Melbourne experienced the past 12 months.

Of course it wasn’t ideal that Westpac, in their wisdom this week, decided to lift rates outside the rate cycle by 0.20% in an effort to build their bottom line, an apparent response to APRA’s tougher lending standards for investors and a requirement for banks to hold more capital in case of a severe downturn.

The Reserve Bank issued its Financial Stability Review report last Friday stating “..there have been tentative signs of slowing in the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets: auction clearance rates have fallen and price growth has eased in Sydney of late”. For those of you still paying attention, let’s keep in mind that nearly 50% of property purchases in Sydney were made by investors, this is not the case for Melbourne.

With the other big three banks likely to also lift rates soon, predictions of a cut in rates by the Reserve Bank, when they next meet in November, are rife among experts. If this happened we would be back to square one, so let’s wait and see before we all panic and talk ourselves into a downturn.

If you want to look for signs of a slowing property market, start going to auctions in your local area and see what is actually happening for yourself. If auctions are passing in one after the other and properties remain on the market for months, you can start thinking there may be a downturn. It usually takes at least four weeks before a trend emerges so it would be wise to wait to see before making a definitive call about Melbourne’s property market.

Worth noting though is the latest update on housing occupancy released last Friday. Once a nation of homeowners, Australia is becoming a nation of renters. Thirty one per cent of households now rent, up four per cent since the early 1990’s. An extraordinary 1.5 million households now own property they don’t live in. Also interesting is, 300,000 landlords are tenants themselves and those leading the race as landlords who rent are aged under 35, a massive 63.4 per cent.

Street Advocate

raywhitegreensborough.com Auction at 3/83 Strathallan Road Macleod

We were out and about this weekend in the very small but tightly held suburb of Macleod in Melbourne’s north. Situated about 15 kms from Melbourne’s CBD Macleod boasts primary and secondary schools, a small village shopping strip and train station. For as long as I have been in real estate, this little area has always performed well in terms of capital growth and has been a hot spot for downsizers and first home buyers alike. Read More

Top 5 Houses

1. 143-147 Mcgowans Road, Donvale $4,500,000
2. 11 Rowland Street, Kew $4,300,000
3. 34 Hawthorn Glen, Hawthorn $3,960,000
4. 49 William Street, Brighton $3,902,500
5. 28 Sussex Street, Brighton $3,860,000

Top 5 Bargain Houses

1. 1/28 Dearing Avenue, Cranbourne $280,000
2. 13 Themeda Court, Meadow Heights $314,000
3. 27 Lillypilly Crescent, Kings Park $335,000
4. 24 Gerbert Street, Broadmeadows $354,500
5. 3/58 Fintonia Road, Noble Park $361,000

Top 5 Apartments

1. 2D Paxton Street, Malvern East $2,172,000
2. 63A Baird Street, Brighton East $1,800,000
3. 5A Ocean Street, Hampton $1,720,000
4. 92A David Street, Hampton $1,675,000
5. 12 Rosslyn Street, Hawthorn East $1,660,000

Top 5 Bargain Apartments

1. 7/1 Edney Court, Noble Park $180,000
2. 5/107 Hudsons Road, Spotswood $251,000
3. 7/40 Egan Street, Richmond $300,000
4. 3/965 Pascoe Vale Road, Jacana $305,000
5. 26/6 Francis Grove, Thornbury $310,000

Source: REIV