Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – December 2021

Huge December caps a remarkable year

In December’s first three weeks the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) recorded more than 4,657 auctions. 2,742 properties sold, 1,900 at auction, with 913 passed in. 838 properties were sold before auction & 4 properties were sold after auction. The clearance rate so far averaged 76% – slightly lower than November’s 79.25%.

With these figures December is more like a booming Spring market. Good properties that are presented correctly for sale are getting excellent results.

The biggest property stories of the year were, 1. Auction and marketing conditions being repeatedly hampered by lockdowns, and 2. Melbourne values jumping 16.3% in the twelve months to November (CoreLogic). There were early predictions values would be severely impacted by the pandemic. But the opposite happened and values shot up.

2021 was a whole new board game

Booming values also burst the belief that migration had been the main driver of rising home prices, because for the last two years we’ve had no migration. Victoria has actually shrunk in population, with estimates 32,000 people will have left over 2021-2022, heading interstate (Queensland mostly) or overseas.

The unfolding Covid situation has produced a whole new board game. The lockdowns had the effect of winding the property spring tighter. Buyer confidence won out – boosted by high household savings, low interest rates and reinforced by increasing equity/personal wealth created by rising house values. It’s a silver lining of the pandemic. Particularly if you’re a homeowner in Melbourne’s beautiful outlying regions like the Mornington Peninsula or Yarra Ranges where values have rocketed.

December auctions break all records

This strong demand has produced a very healthy market for sellers, with an estimated 4,800 to 5,000 auctions across December, breaking all previous records and easily passing the previous maximum of 4,445 for December 2017 (REIV).

Everything stops for Christmas and the New Year of course but auctions are likely to gear up again in 2022 sooner than usual.

In the meantime we wish all our Vendor Marketing clients and connections a joyful Christmas and free and happy New Year!

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

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