Sydney auction clearance rate remains strong for late spring

Sydney's late spring auction success rate has normally fallen quite significantly under the weight of new choices by mid-November.

But while the vibrant seasonal jacaranda display falls to the ground, indicating the Christmas break is nigh, there has been continued strength in the auction outcomes.

CoreLogic advised four of Sydney’s 15 regions returned preliminary clearance rates on a recent weekend of 90 percent or over.

They were the Northern Beaches, Ryde and North Sydney and Hornsby.

Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury returned the lowest preliminary clearance rate at 58 percent, which is where the overall end of spring market typically sits in normal years.

There were 930 homes taken to auction across Sydney last week making it the second busiest auction week of the year for the city, just behind the pre-Easter ramp up.

The CoreLogic preliminary results showed an overall 81 percent clearance rate, with not much difference between houses and apartments in attracting buyers.

The clearance rate will likely revise to around the mid-70s once late results are included.

The previous week saw a final clearance rate of 74 per cent across 843 auctions.

One year ago, 844 auctions were held across Sydney returning a final clearance rate of just 42 per cent.

Back in 2017, as the boom was disappating there were over 1000 Sydney auctions, one of the few and far so-called Super Saturdays.

The latest auctions results have triggered a $1.4 million house median and a $920,000 apartment median.

Auctions offerings are always pricier than private treaty listings.

CoreLogic recently put the overall Sydney median at $918,000 for houses and units at $720,000.

Sydney house values are up 5.3 percent since the recent May low, and apartments up 4.2 percent.

According to CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless, the strong rebound in Sydney can be attributed to a blend of factors; tighter labour market conditions and stronger population growth relative to the other capitals, coupled with the stimulatory effect of the lowest mortgage rates since the 1950’s, and improved access to credit.  

Stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers purchasing under specific price points have added additional stimulus to housing demand, Lawless said.  

The lack of fresh supply is also contributing to the turnaround, as vendors have still been hesitant to come to market.

The latest CoreLogic listing tally is 10 percent down on the same time last year. 

There have been 7200 fresh offerings across Sydney in the past 28 days, compared to the near 8000 fresh offering that came to market this time last year. There were 8600 fresh offerings in mid-November 2017.

The current total Sydney listings, fresh and lingering, sits at 24,000, compared to 31,000 this time last spring.

There is emerging improved sentiment, according to the latest report by ME Bank.

The report, which surveyed 1000 Australians in the property market, found 42 per cent of participants said they felt good about the current market, which was up nine percentage points from last quarter.

Price growth sentiment was most improved in Sydney, with respondents in all major cities except Perth showing a more positive outlook on prices.

The survey showed 57 percent throught Sydney prices would be higher still in 12 months time, up from 24 percent who thought so in April this year.

REA Group executive director of economic research Cameron Kusher said buyers still face a lack of stock, although there will be a pick up in auction volumes.

According to realestate.com.au there will be 754 auctions today and then 776 next Saturday.