Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – December 2015

Ringing the bells on 2015. A remarkable year for the Melbourne auction market. Merry Christmas!

Over the three weekends of December there were in excess of 3087 auctions reported to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV). More than 2136 sales were recorded. Approximately 951 properties were passed in with 382 of those on a vendor bid. December’s clearance rate averaged 67%.

December’s three weekends saw clearance rates rise to the high 60’s giving us an encouraging end to the year. Saturday 19 produced the highest clearance rate (70%) for a month.

Typical of 2015’s record breaking form the 642 auctions reported on Saturday 19th was way ahead of the same day in 2014 which had 470 and ahead of the previous all time record of 590 in 2009.

Melbourne saw consistent growth in values in 2015 with the school zones of Balwyn and Glen Waverley creating some of the largest spikes. And the math couldn’t be simpler – high achieving Balwyn High and Glen Waverley Secondary College save parents the expense of private school fees, currently around $180,000 per child. If you have 3 children head to one of these suburbs for a possible $540,000 bonus!

2015 will be remembered for record breaking numbers and for drama as well. Interest rate cuts in February and May and a strong economy fuelled a surging market and saw clearance rates up at 80%, high prices and talk of a bubble. Regulators (APRA) took heat out of the market by tightening lending criteria for Australian property investors. Regulators also reminded the Chinese-investment spruikers that their clients were subject to foreign investment rules, which some spruikers had forgotten to mention. The dampers worked and by Spring clearance rates were cooling but auction numbers were still breaking records.

As we go into Summer clearance rates have steadied giving us a solid end to a remarkable year. 2015 was quite a ride and demand is still strong as we head into 2016.

To all our clients, the Real Estate fraternity and our readers, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful break. We’ll see you again in 2016!

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

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