Sellers and buyers emerged from winter hibernation, with more sellers selling their homes and more buyers reaching open for inspections, reveal new domain.com data
Since the start of Spring, property listings on Domain are up 4%, open home attendees are up 14% and the national the auction clearance rate is up 2 percentage points. “We’re seeing a real market improvement,” says Domain managing editor Alice Stolz. “Spring listings are up and people want to buy in Spring when stock levels are higher.”
But in each capital city, there is a different story. In the past four weeks, Sydney and Canberra have seen the best signs of growth in the market.
In Sydney, properties listed on Domain rose 16% from the beginning of August, with 24% more visits to open homes in the past four weeks. In Canberra, listing numbers increased 40% since the start of spring and increased 17% year on year – the only capital city to do so.
The results of September’s Sydney auction clearance rate show a strong 71 percent of homes up for auction are going under the hammer – the highest rate in two years. One-third of Sydney auctions sold prior in September, which “really shows people are saying ‘I want that property and I’ll do anything to get it’ and not waiting to go to auction”, Stolz said.
Sellers in Hobart and Adelaide are also coming out of the woodwork, with increases of homes on the market of 7% and 10%, respectively.
“Last month in Melbourne, 5 percent of sellers withdrew their houses before the auction which was down year-on-year. It means people aren’t getting cold feet. Sellers are getting quite confident in their selling ability,” Stolz said.
Adelaide’s clearance rates are steady. But in Perth clearance rates have fallen from highs of about 50 percent during the 2013 boom of that city, to 12 percent in September. Recently, clearance rates have hovered around the 20% mark.
This is all adding to an increased sense of urgency for first-home buyers, Stolz said, knowing that prices will rise on the back of interest rate cuts, and on the back of higher Sydney and Melbourne clearance rates.
