Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – August 2014

August signs indicate a booming Spring

There were 2998 auctions reported to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) in August, with a total of 2208 sales recorded. 790 properties were passed in, 345 of those on a vendor bid.

With an August clearance rate of 71.5%, 2014’s strong activity shows no signs of decline.

August auction numbers reflected a typical Winter slowdown but were more than 14% higher than the August average over the last 10 years. Likewise, July numbers were 17% above the recent 10 year average for that month.

At this point, the extra activity coupled with increased property values has produced transactions topping $10.8 Billion in value for the year so far, which is a 38% increase on this time last year.

August averaged about 600 auctions per weekend but Spring will bring increased numbers with several weekends expected to top the 1300 mark. More homes gives buyers more choice and it will be a real gauge of demand and the market’s willingness to support Melbourne’s record price levels, which have risen 10% over the last 12 months with a current median of just over $600,000. But given sales for this month were up by 6% compared with August 2013 the signs show people are not being deterred by the higher prices.

The fact that money (interest rates) is cheap and the notion that sitting on the fence is expensive, is still top of mind.

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

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