It’s been a productive week for Team Fetter/Sciola with five sales in the last five days and five auctions coming up this week, including a twilight auction tonight at 10 Grace Street, Malvern.
We’ve had 10 auctions so far this year.
Three sold before auction, four sold under the hammer with multiple bidders, one passed in and sold directly afterwards, and two passed in and haven’t sold yet but with offers on the table.
This equates to an 80 percent clearance rate, which would be considered a ‘good-to-strong’ market, slightly favouring sellers over buyers.
In a ‘good-to-strong’ market it is typical to see one in ten properties go crazy – selling hundreds of thousands of dollars above reserve.
These are the outliers… The A+ properties that are deemed to be great value and create a lot of buzz.
At the other end of the spectrum, it’s typical to see one in ten properties pass in and not sell.
Usually, this is because the vendors aren’t motivated enough to accept the market price at the time.
This leaves eight out of 10 properties selling under some or no competition – often with just the one main buyer, or selling just above reserve with a couple of bidders.
By this logic, one in ten sellers are over the moon with their price, eight in 10 are feeling relatively happy or at least relieved, and one in 10 are disappointed or disillusioned.
When clearance rates are consistently above 70 percent, usually it means prices are increasing… A seller’s market.
Jellis Craig saw its first high volume auction weekend since November, with 147 auctions – 110 of which sold – for a clearance rate of 75 percent.
Across February, Melbourne averaged a 78.5% clearance rate, up on December’s 73 percent, according to the REIV.
Seems positive.
Although clearance varies greatly by area, with many of the mid tier suburbs (family homes in the $1,000,000 – $2,000,000 range) outperforming the more affluent inner east and bayside suburbs.
Data from Realestate.com.au confirms that there has been a substantial increase in listing activity this year, with the major portal reporting 27.8% more new listings over January than the same time last year.
It has been the busiest start for new listings since 2008, according to REA.
Clearance has remained relatively buoyant given this increase in volume, which bodes well for the market and should translate to some price gains later in the year if supply can’t keep up with demand.
Given the condensed selling window this Q1 in Stonnington with an early Easter, where seven weeks of auctions have been crammed into five weeks, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is less choice for buyers in April and May compared to what we are seeing right now.
Less choice generally means more competition in a ‘good-to-strong’ market.
In other words, now might be a better time to buy than later in the year. Time will tell.
Feature Property: 32 Kelvin Grove, Prahran
David Sciola 