•
MELBOURNE’s auction market had its highest clearance rate over the weekend since the end of the property boom in December 2007.
Of the 452 properties up for auction, 83 per cent sold and 77 properties were passed in!
But the number of properties for auction was 126 fewer than at the same time last year!
The CEO of Real Estate Institute of Victoria attributed the high clearance rate to the extension of the first-home buyer’s grant which was announced in last week’s federal Budget, combined with low interest rates and an increase in investor numbers.
“It’s off a low base. There were not a lot of auctions,” Mr Raimondo said.
“The part of the market which is performing really well is priced at or below the medium of about $410,000.
“In the last 12 months that’s stayed very stable.”
Mr Raimondo expects the strong clearance rate to continue.
“The next two weeks we expect to see just under 1300 auctions, which is a very high number of auctions at this time of the year.
“I expect the clearance rate to remain high until the 30th of September (when the full first-home owner’s boost will be phased out).”
Flat and apartment clearances were also strong: 90 per cent of 136 properties at auction sold.
The latest residential land report from the Housing Industry Association revealed Melbourne’s median land price grew 0.7 per cent in the December quarter to a record $152,000.
The HIA-RP Data residential land report showed the price of land in Melbourne was up 4.8 per cent over the year.
The median land price in regional Victoria fell 2.8 per cent in the December quarter to $97,250, the lowest price since mid-2007.
•
MELBOURNE’s auction market had its highest clearance rate on the weekend since the end of the property boom in December 2007.
Of the 452 properties up for auction, 83 per cent sold and 77 properties were passed in!
But the number of properties for auction was 126 fewer than at the same time last year!
The CEO of Real Estate Institute of Victoria attributed the high clearance rate to the extension of the first-home buyers grant which was announced in last week’s federal Budget, combined with low interest rates and an increase in investor numbers.
“It is off a low base. There were not a lot of auctions,” Mr Raimondo said.
“The part of the market which is performing really well is priced at or below the medium of about $410,000.
“In the last 12 months that has stayed very stable.”
Mr Raimondo expects the strong clearance rate to continue.
“The next two weeks we expect to see just under 1300 auctions, which is a very high number of auctions at this time of the year.
“I expect the clearance rate to remain high until the 30th of September (when the full first-home owner’s boost will be phased out).”
Flat and apartment clearances were also strong: 90 per cent of 136 properties at auction sold.
The latest residential land report from the Housing Industry Association revealed Melbourne’s median land price grew 0.7 per cent in the December quarter to a record $152,000.
The HIA-RP Data residential land report showed the price of land in Melbourne was up 4.8 per cent over the year.
The median land price in regional Victoria fell 2.8 per cent in the December quarter to $97,250, the lowest price since mid-2007.
•
The value of Aussie homes increased in the first quarter, bucking a global trend downwards, according to a recently issued report.
House and flat prices in Australia increased in value by 1.6% in the first three months of the year, helped by a scarcity of supply, lower interest rates and incentives to first-home buyers.
The slight recovery in Australia “has been driven by the 40% fall in home loan rates to 5.7%, which are now at their lowest levels since July 1968!”
March’s three-month gain follows a 0.1% rise in the three months to February in the RP Data-Rismark’s national dwelling value index, and a 3% fall in the value of capital city homes in 2008.
The strength of Aussie home prices is a world away - so far - from the 2.7% drop in British home prices over the first quarter, capping a year to March 17.5% plunge.
US housing didn’t fare that much better, with prices in the top 20 cities sinking 1.9% in February, which brought the 12-month fall to 18.6%, according to the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller index, a widely followed measure.
RP Data-Rismark said the first-home buyer’s grant, which ends June 30, has acted like a catalyst for new home buying in Australia, but lower interest rates are sustaining the market’s growth.