Melbourne Property News Monthly Wrap – March 2018

Market cooling in Autumn? Or just off the boil?

Over the weekends in March more than 4187 auctions were reported to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV). More than 2370 sales were recorded. Approximately 1354 properties were passed in, 671 of those on a vendor bid. The clearance rate averaged 68%. On the very last weekend (Easter) 166 auctions were scheduled, achieving a higher clearance rate at 74.5%.

Although weekends in March included Moomba, the Grand Prix and Easter, total auction numbers were still high. But clearance rate percentages dropped to the 60’s in March, far below the high 70’s sellers benefited from through 2017. Units are currently performing better than houses though, because of affordability, convenience for commuting to the CBD, plus the impetus of First Home Buyers targeting cheaper housing options. And the attention is lifting unit values. Looking at the last 12 months, Melbourne units have scored a 6.6% rise in values, while houses managed only 4.9%.

As an adjustment down from the heated 2017 market takes effect Melbourne house values appear to be in gradual decline for four straight months now. Values dipped 0.2% in March (CoreLogic). A 0.1% drop was registered in February, plus 0.2% falls in January and December. Analysts however, are citing all the increased buying activity at the lower end of the market for bringing Melbourne’s median value down.

But the strong top end of the market sails on regardless. In March’s last week 676 square metre 66 Clendon Rd Toorak sold for $7,850,000, setting a new suburb record for land value of $11,600 per square metre. And the big flips are still happening. Shane Warne bought back his old Brighton home at 32 Middle Crescent in August 2016 for $14.25 million. He sold it in March for $20 Million – almost a $6 million flip in 18 months. The ‘spin king’ strikes again!

Craig Knudsen
Principal Advisor
Vendor Marketing

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