Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – April 2016

Sturdy figures in April show Melbourne’s resilience.

Over April’s 5 weekends there were in excess of 3456 auctions reported to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) with more than 2596 sales recorded. Approximately 887 properties were passed in with 410 of those on a vendor bid. The clearance rate averaged 73.5%.

Sturdy and consistent is the best way to describe the Melbourne market in April. Clearance rates were healthy, generally holding in the mid to low 70’s, but with some stellar performances like Mill Park which scored a 100% clearance rate with its 15 auctions. 11 suburbs have clearance rates running above 90% this year including Seddon, Collingwood and Dingley Village. April’s last Saturday achieved an all time high with a total 1263 auctions. The previous April high was 1247 on the 4th of April 2014.

The busiest suburbs in 2015 are again maintaining robust levels of activity in 2016. Reservoir topped the market in 2015 for auction sales and leads again in 2016 with 83 sales so far. An emerging trend is an increase in auctions in the outer suburbs. It’s up on 2015 by 25%.

April saw plenty of high prices as well with a $6M+ home sale in Balwyn and $4M+ homes selling in Brighton and Hawthorn East on April’s last weekend. Aspendale also kicked a goal with a $3.5M sale.

Media comment in April questioned the direction Melbourne’s apartment market has taken. 24,000 new apartments will be built in the CBD between now and 2019 but over half of them will have only 2 bedrooms. These are too small for emerging family households and are aimed at negative gearers and foreign investors. High density aspects of Hong Kong and Singapore are now reshaping Melbourne’s property market with commentators describing many new Melbourne CBD apartments as among the smallest in the developed world and of the poorest quality.

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

Brought to you by Vendor Marketing – Melbourne’s most qualified vendor advocates