Key takeaways
Our property markets are feeling the winter chills and the downtrend in our property markets continues as buyer and seller confidence wanes.
But there are early signs that it's possible the market is looking for a bottom as auction clearance rates have risen despite more properties being offered for sale
Sydney property prices dropped -0.5% from last week, dropped -2.0% over the past 28 days, and dropped -0.2% over the last 12 months.
Melbourne property prices dropped -0.3% from last week, dropped -1.2% over the past 28 days and are down -0.7% over the last 12 months.
Brisbane property prices dropped -0.5% from last week, dropped -1.2% over the past 28 days but are up 20.5% over the last 12 months.
Overall Australian capital dwelling prices decreased -1.3% over the past 28 days and 3.8% higher over the last 12 months.
Auction listings rose 9 per cent over the previous week, a forerunner to the traditional spring selling season.
Despite the greater supply, according to Corelogic the preliminary clearance rate hit 61.5 per cent from the 1603 home that were listed for auction.
That result is 2 percentage points better than a week earlier and the first time since June that the preliminary rate has passed 60 per cent.
It seems that buyers are seeing value in the market and are not prepared to wait to see if prices fall further.
Finance figures suggest that there are more first home buyers and an increasing number of investors who are attracted by the surging rents.
The next big test for the housing market will be in the upcoming spring selling season in the coming months, coming after further expected rate rises.
In the meantime, rents continued to increase as we're now experiencing tight markets across the country.
Here's what's happening to property prices...
- Sydney property prices dropped -0.5% from last week, dropped -2.0% over the past 28 days, and dropped -0.2% over the last 12 months.
- Melbourne property prices dropped -0.3% from last week, dropped -1.2% over the past 28 days and down -0.7% over the last 12 months.
- Brisbane property prices dropped -0.5% from last week, dropped -1.2% over the past 28 days but are up 20.5% over the last 12 months.
Overall Australian capital dwelling prices decreased -1.3% over the past 28 days and are 3.8% higher over the last 12 months.
Of course, these are "overall" figures - there is not one Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane property market.
And various segments of each market are performing differently.
To help keep you up-to-date with all that's happening in property, here is my updated weekly analysis of data and charts as of 15th August 2022 provided by CoreLogic, and realestate.com.au.
The number of A-grade properties for sale in Australia is still in short supply
While there are more properties on the market for sale, there is still a shortage of A-Grade properties and these are selling quickly.
Despite there being more houses on the market for sale at present, remember that buyers are sellers and sellers are buyers so in most cases each time a property is sold another buyer is out in the market looking for a new home.
The table below shows the tables are turning in favour of buyers with more properties coming onto the market giving them more choice, hence the lack of urgency.
Median property prices
READ MORE: The latest median property prices in Australia’s major cities
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- Also read:Latest property price forecasts for 2023 revealed. What’s ahead in our housing markets in the next year or two?
Vendor Metrics
At a national level, properties are taking slightly longer to sell than they were during the property boom of last year.
However we're still in a seller's market with the number of days to sell the property very low (a sign of the tight supply situation for good properties), and vendor discounting still at very low levels.
In general, houses are selling better than apartments, but the shortage of good properties on the market is seeing A-grade properties selling quickly with minimal discounting.
Our Rental Markets
Our rental markets have been tightening further with vacancy rates for both houses and apartments extremely low across the country.
Weekend's auction clearance rates
This weekend's auction markets produced divergent results with most markets recording the highest clearance rates for months, however, Brisbane and Canberra auction clearance rates tanked.
1335 properties were listed for auction, a few more than last weekend’s 1243 but, not surprisingly, this was well below the 1,551 auctions held on the same weekend last year.
With the media full of negative messages and the spectre of interest rates rising faster than many expected, discretionary vendors are losing confidence and not putting their properties up for auction.
Similarly, buyers are being cautious suffering from FOBI - fear of buying into this market.
Currently, we're finding more homes are being sold before auction as sellers rush to make a deal rather than risk not getting a sale as vendors are becoming less willing to test the marketplace under true auction conditions.
Other properties are being passed in at auction, but selling straight after on negotiation with the vendor post-auction. The auction clearance rate doesn't always reflect this.
Dr Andrew Wilson of My Housing Market reported a national auction market clearance rate of 58.3% at the weekend which was lower than the 60.9% reported last weekend and still well below the 78.2% recorded over the same weekend last year
Dr Andrew Wilson reported the following auction preliminary clearance rates for Saturday 6th August:
- Adelaide auction clearance rate - 85.9%
- Brisbane auction clearance rate - 40.6%
- Canberra auction clearance rate - 33.8%
- Melbourne auction clearance rate - 65.7%
- Sydney auction clearance rate- 65.7 %
Source of graphs and data: Dr Andrew Wilson's My Housing market, CoreLogic, REA
READ MORE: This weekend’s auction clearance results
