Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – April 2014

Holiday breaks bring a quieter spell for April

The Easter Break and ANZAC Day long weekends saw a quieter spell for Melbourne’s Property market. Compared to March’s record breaking figure of 4,600 auctions, April was considerably quieter seeing 2,242 auctions. 1,572 sales were recorded with 670 of these being passed in, 338 of which were on a vendor bid. (Source: REIV Sat stats).

Easter Saturday posted only 35 auctions, with 21 selling, achieving an unofficial clearance rate of 60% which was significantly lower than the recent average. (Although the REIV does not include Easter figures as official clearance rates due to the low volume of auctions). The low clearance rate supports the notion that auctioning your home over Easter can pose more risks than usual.

2014 however has continued with its strong performance with nearly 7500 auction sales for the year to date with an average clearance rate this year of 71%. The clearance rate for April weakened just a little however to average 70% (69.67%), which is down on the March average of 72%. It is up on last year’s April average of 67%.

February through to March is one of the strongest times to sell a home in Melbourne and May will see a real test for the current robust market, although based on precedent April sentiment in the market tends to continue on into May.

House prices in Melbourne have risen, which traditionally brings more vendors to the market. Very popular compact inner urban homes such as single fronted, two bedroom properties continue attracting both baby boomer downsizers and young professionals starting families. Both categories are driven by a preference for a self-contained home as opposed to an apartment. This kind of property jumped in value by up to $100,000 in 2013 to around $850,000.

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

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