Crucial spring weeks ahead for McGrath profit
Stockbroker Bell Potter suggest the next few weeks are key to the profit for McGrath Estate Agents.
It has advised in an update to clients that the real estate market has yet to see a meaningful rebound in auction volumes.
"The positive is that there has been a rising trend in volumes over the last couple of months and clearance rates have been consistently strong between 70-80 percent," analyst Chris Savage said.
"But the negative is that volumes are still below (in some cases well below) what they were a year ago and we are now almost in the middle of spring.
"The next several weeks are obviously key for how the 1HFY17 result will look for McGrath," the latest update advised.
He said each week we get data on auction volumes and clearance rates for each capital city in Australia and the key focus in the case of McGrath is obviously Sydney.
"It has been well publicised that, after reasonably strong volumes and clearance rates in Sydney in 1HFY16, volumes then fell away materially in 2HFY16 which caused McGrath to downgrade its FY16 prospectus forecasts.
"The key focus now obviously is what happens to volumes and, to a lesser extent, clearance rates in Sydney in 1HFY17 and whether there is a rebound or not.
"Spring is a key period for auctions so right now is when we would expect to see a rebound in volumes if there is going to be one."
The report came with an updated chart for auction volumes and clearance rates in Sydney up until last weekend.
"The key take-out of the chart is that we have really yet to see a meaningful rebound in volumes this half," it concluded.