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Auctions slip

6 Aug 2006 | 11:00 | Melbourne

This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive

Residential property auctions have fallen across all capital cities last Saturday and experts believe the market is set to slow further in coming months following the latest interest rate rise.

According to Australian Property Monitors’ Home Price Guide, three of the four cities monitored recorded a clearance rate below 50%. Melbourne was the only city to record an auction clearance rate of above 50%.

Last Saturday in Sydney, 162 properties were auctioned and 72 were sold resulting in a clearance rate of 46.5%. The total value of properties sold was $51 million.

In Melbourne, 442 properties went under hammer and only 176 were sold resulting in a clearance rate of 57.9%. The total value of properties sold was $77.9 million.

In Adelaide, 35 properties were auctioned and 11 were sold resulting in a clearance rate of 37.9%. The total value of properties sold was $4 million.

In Brisbane, 38 properties were auctioned and 10 were sold resulting in a clearance rate of 34.5%. The total value of properties sold was $3.8 million.

Last week, AMP’s head of investment and chief economist Shane Oliver said auction clearance rates are likely to be softer and housing sales will ease in the next six months.

Last week, APM’s general manager Louis Christopher said a modest recovery in the national housing market that has been occurring in the first half of 2006 will probably stall in the second half of the year, given the two interest rate rises so far.

Christopher said if interest rates rise for the third time this year the property markets would be hit hard, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“It very much could be the final straw for the property market. We would see an additional 10% price decline in Sydney with Melbourne and Brisbane more than likely falling by over 5%. I hate to imagine what it would do to defaults given they are already on the rise,” he added.

By Kathryn O’Meara

Home Price Guide® Auction Results – SYDNEY SUMMARY

	This Saturday	Last Saturday	This Saturday Last Year
Total Listed for auction	162	228	171
Withdrawn	17	21	25
Unreported to date	7	4	18

Number Reported Auctioned	138	203	128
Number Passed in	66	88	56
Sold Prior	20	33	18
Sold Under the hammer	52	82	52
Total Number sold	72	115	70
Total Dollar value sold	$ 51.0M	$ 80.7M	$ 54.9M
Sold After	0	1	2

Clearance Rate	46.5%	51.3%	45.8%

52 Week hi – 63%
52 Week low – 41%

Dearest:
3 Lucretia Av, Longueville. 5 br house. Hamilton & Co Real Estate $ 2,695,000

Cheapest:
24/49 Hamilton Rd, Fairfield. 2 br unit. Pretti Real Estate Rentals $ 165,000

Home Price Guide® Auction Results – MELBOURNE SUMMARY

	This Saturday	Last Saturday	This Saturday Last Year
Total Listed for auction	442	498	419
Withdrawn	8	5	10
Unreported to date	138	141	189

Number Reported Auctioned	296	352	220
Number Passed in	118	131	108
Sold Prior	56	64	35
Sold Under the hammer	120	155	69
Total Number sold	176	219	104
Total Dollar value sold	$ 77.9M	$ 91.8M	$ 40.0M
Sold After	5	5	12

Clearance Rate	57.9%	61.3%	45.2%

52 Week hi – 63%
52 Week low – 46%

Dearest:
7 Austin St, Hawthorn. 5 br house. Kay & Burton South Yarra $ 2,260,000

Cheapest:
21/205 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne. studio. Andrews Corporation Real Estate $ 160,000

Home Price Guide® Auction Results – ADELAIDE SUMMARY

	This Saturday	Last Saturday	This Saturday Last Year
Total Listed for auction	35	36	32
Withdrawn	2	1	1
Unreported to date	6	9	5

Number Reported Auctioned	27	26	26
Number Passed in	16	11	9
Sold Prior	1	3	4
Sold Under the hammer	10	12	13
Total Number sold	11	15	17
Total Dollar value sold	$ 4.0M	$ 4.7M	$ 5.4M
Sold After	0	0	0

Clearance Rate	37.9%	55.6%	63.0%