SPRING SALES SURGE
A SPELL of warm weather and a surge of new properties on the market have resulted in a strong start to the spring auction season in most Australian capital cities.
The auction market in Melbourne was particularly robust over the weekend, with auction clearance rates hitting 76 per cent on Saturday, almost 20 percentage points higher than that recorded on the first weekend of September last year.
In the bayside suburb of St Kilda, the top end of the property market saw some encouraging results. Auctioneer Leonard Persichetti, a partner with TBM, sold a three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-storey home for $1,026,000 -- more than $75,000 above the vendor's reserve price.
"The property was very hotly contested. There is still a shortage of good-quality stock available at this end of the market, which is resulting in a very strong and buoyant marketplace," Mr Persichetti said.
"We had about four genuine bidders for this property and a spillover to another three or four groups of people who didn't even get to put up their hands," he said.
In Sydney, 70.1 per cent of properties sold at auction with just over $102 million worth of real estate changing hands. The median price for homes sold in the city over the weekend was $653,500.
The result told a vastly different story to the clearance rate of 45.1per cent recorded by the harbour city on the first week of last September, when clearance rates slumped on the back of the global financial crisis.
In Adelaide, the clearance rate was also strong with 73.7 per cent of properties selling at auction.
While just 35 per cent of properties sold under the hammer in Brisbane, the result was still better than the market's 32.3 per cent last September.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president David Airey said the property market had made a dramatic recovery from last year's spring slump to the astonishment of everyone.
"It's hard to believe, in comparison to Father's Day one year ago, the weekend's results," he said.
"It has taken everyone by surprise, even in the industry. The market is very strong and it has moved back into a seller's market in really about a three- to four-month period."
Mr Airey said the confidence of buyers and the more realistic price expectations of sellers were driving the market recovery.
But he said, "the most important factor without doubt is the very low interest rates.
"I'm sure we've seen the worst of it now," he said.
In Perth, property industry figures said they were beginning to see signs the market was turning around with the number of homes available falling from 18,300 at the worst of the slump to 11,500 this week.
source: the australian
In the bayside suburb of St Kilda, the top end of the property market saw some encouraging results. Auctioneer Leonard Persichetti, a partner with TBM, sold a three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-storey home for $1,026,000 -- more than $75,000 above the vendor's reserve price.
"The property was very hotly contested. There is still a shortage of good-quality stock available at this end of the market, which is resulting in a very strong and buoyant marketplace," Mr Persichetti said.
"We had about four genuine bidders for this property and a spillover to another three or four groups of people who didn't even get to put up their hands," he said.
In Sydney, 70.1 per cent of properties sold at auction with just over $102 million worth of real estate changing hands. The median price for homes sold in the city over the weekend was $653,500.
The result told a vastly different story to the clearance rate of 45.1per cent recorded by the harbour city on the first week of last September, when clearance rates slumped on the back of the global financial crisis.
In Adelaide, the clearance rate was also strong with 73.7 per cent of properties selling at auction.
While just 35 per cent of properties sold under the hammer in Brisbane, the result was still better than the market's 32.3 per cent last September.
Real Estate Institute of Australia president David Airey said the property market had made a dramatic recovery from last year's spring slump to the astonishment of everyone.
"It's hard to believe, in comparison to Father's Day one year ago, the weekend's results," he said.
"It has taken everyone by surprise, even in the industry. The market is very strong and it has moved back into a seller's market in really about a three- to four-month period."
Mr Airey said the confidence of buyers and the more realistic price expectations of sellers were driving the market recovery.
But he said, "the most important factor without doubt is the very low interest rates.
"I'm sure we've seen the worst of it now," he said.
In Perth, property industry figures said they were beginning to see signs the market was turning around with the number of homes available falling from 18,300 at the worst of the slump to 11,500 this week.
source: the australian
