The last five months have been like no other.
In fact, if you look back, the last couple of years of been like no other.
Only last year Australia experienced a tragedy that was unevenly distributed, an economic freeze, and a media frenzy.
Then this year our economy rebounded, almost all the jobs that were lost have been replaced and our property market defied all the doomsayers.
So what’s next?
That’s one of the questions I ask Dr. Andrew Wilson, Australia’s leading housing economist, and as you watch this week’s video you’ll hear his thoughts on what’s happening in our property and our rental markets.
Our property market has been bounding along this year.
Buyers are still out in force – owner-occupiers, investors, and first home buyers – at a time when available supply is struggling to keep up, keeping pushes prices higher.
In fact, a number of capital city property markets are already showing double-digit capital growth this year.
Watch this week’s video as we discuss what happened in our auction markets over the weekend as they give a good “in time indicator” of what’s happening on the ground.
Sydney Auction Market
Sydney’s weekend auction clearance rate rebounded on Saturday following five consecutive weekend falls and despite an increase in properties listed for sale by auction
Sydney reported a clearance rate of 82.2% which was higher than the 81.5% recorded the previous weekend.
Sydney hosted a record-breaking eighth at a 4868-weekend auction is over May.
The Northern Beaches was Sydney’s top-performing region at the weekend with a clearance rate of 88.3%, followed by the Lower North Shore 86% in the Inner West 85%.
Melbourne Auction Market
Strong Melbourne auction market despite the shutdown
The Melbourne auction market reported another strong result for sellers generally, despite the severe constraints of the coronavirus lockdown and another surge in listings.
Melbourne reported a clearance rate of 76.5%, which was just below the 76.9% recorded the previous weekend.
Although the Saturday result was the lowest for the year so far for Melbourne, the local market continues to prove relatively resilient to the record-breaking waves of auctions conducted over the past month.
Saturday’s offerings were a record for auctions conducted on a May Saturday, with 5880 properties listed over the past 5 weekends, also clearly a record for the month of May.
National Rental Market Update
At the same time as our housing markets are performing strongly around Australia, we know that the rental markets have been fragmented with certain sectors performing strongly and others languishing.
Watch this week’s video as Dr. Wilson discusses his monthly rental market report.
You’ll hear him explain that home rental vacancies have continued to fall over May with most capitals now reporting increasing shortages of both houses and units for rent.
Although Inner-suburban and CBD unit markets in Melbourne and Sydney continue to record high vacancy rates, the number of advertised vacancies in these areas has declined sharply over the past month – falling by 10% in Melbourne and 5% in Sydney.
The re-opening of borders has resulted in increased tourist and business travel that is fuelling increased demand for the short-term accommodation tenancies in inner Melbourne and Sydney that added to supply in the permanent rental market over the past year.
Vacancy rates for houses continue to fall with most capitals now remarkably at or under 1% and, although Sydney and Melbourne are hovering around 2%, rates in those capitals are declining.
What’s ahead?
In today’s video you’ll also hear Dr. Wilson give his thoughts on:
- What’s ahead for our property markets for the balance of this year
- Why he doesn’t believe we’ll get sufficiently high inflation to raise interest rates for some time, and…
- Why some banks are recommending customers lock in their interest rates and why he doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
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Michael Yardney is CEO of Metropole Property Strategists, which creates wealth for its clients through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He is a best-selling author, one of Australia’s leading experts in wealth creation through property and writes the Property Update blog.
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