Sydney overtakes Melbourne on clearance rates, not withstanding fresh bathing box record
Positioned on the Dendy Street foreshore, the record had stood at $285,000 since late last month.
But dig a bit deeper into the ever shifting sands of Melbourne property and not every price is heading skyward.
The cheapest weekend Melbourne auction result represented a significant loss for the vendor.
The inner Melbourne studio apartment fetched $170,000, above the $155,000 pre-auction price guidance, but less than the $282,000 sale in 2011.
The Malaysian based investor vendor had been securing around $288 a week in rental, plus NRAS concessions.
In an unexpected early 2016 auction results twist, CoreLogic RP Data calculated Melbourne’s auction clearance rate has slipped below Sydney’s for the first time since mid-September last year.
No surprise Sydney topped the nation's weekend auction prices when $3.63 million was paid in Lindfield on its upper north shore. The 2010 Harvey Little-renovated four bedroom brick Lindfield home traded at $3.18 million two years ago, reflecting a nice six percent annual price gain.
A $3.175 million Unley Park, Adelaide sale also easily exceeded Melbourne's top sale of $2.625 million in Hawthorn. The 1910 Edwardian Hawthorn home, that last sold in 1988 at $331,000, helped Melbourne's inner east as the strongest performing Melbourne sub-region with a formidable 81 per cent clearance rate across 52 auctions.
"There really is bugger all quality stock on offer right now," Melbourne buyer's agent Mal James suggested.
Not entirely the case as My Super Nanny childcare entrepreneur Stephanie Wakefield's Hampton property fetched $1.66 million on Saturday.
The fashionably styled home was listed with initial $1.5 million plus hopes, which were then revised up to $1.6 million plus.
In Sydney many buyers seemingly aren't waiting for the auction.
Australian test cricket vice captain David Warner and his wife Candice secured a bullish $7 million plus sale of their South Coogee home three weeks ahead of its intended auction.
The sale was easily above the $6.25 million paid two years ago by the couple who listed following their $4 million purchase of a oceanfront building block in Maroubra.
After a shocking January kickoff, Sydney's Saturday auction clearance rate remained above 70 percent for the second successive weekend, suggesting the earlybirds vendors will do fine while stock levels stay low.
Volumes are set to ramp up shortly ahead of the earlier than usual Easter break.
But currently new listings in Sydney are at their lowest level for this time of year since 2012, according to CoreLogic RP Data.
Big differences are emerging though across the regions as North Sydney and Hornsby are sitting on a 92 per cent success rate while the South West secured just 52 per cent over the week to February 14.
CoreLogic RP Data notes Sydney had shown a "remarkable bounce" in clearance rates, recording a 78 per cent preliminary clearance rate over the last week, compared with clearances that were tracking in the high 50 per cent range last December.
The national preliminary auction clearance rate once again surprised on the upside, rising to 72 per cent this week, compared to 70 per cent last week and 74 per cent over the same week one year ago.
The 1330 national auction volumes are higher than they were last week's 916 residential homes were taken to auction, however they are still tracking below the 1540 volume recorded over the same week last February.