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Capital city auction activity ramped up exponentially as we farewelled the first month of the new year. 1,122 homes were presented to auction during the second week of selling season, near doubling last week’s 625 auctions. These figures point to a stirring sellers’ market nation-wide, but how does Melbourne compare to its capital city counterparts? Let’s explore.

News from the capitals

In news from across the nation, housing values rose across every capital city and rest-of-state region in January – with the exception of regional South Australia. Unsurprisingly, the busiest auction market was Sydney with 428 auctions and a preliminary auction clearance rate of 79.9%. This was the highest of all capital cities, followed by Canberra with 77.8% of homes successful at auction. Looking to the smaller cities, 43.2% of homes were sold at auction in Adelaide, 37.5% in Perth and 36.4% in Brisbane. The median house price across the capitals came to $922,500 and $781,000 for units. (CoreLogic) The strength of the market in each of these states will become clearer as buyers and sellers settle into 2020.

Spotlight on Melbourne

Switching the spotlight to our home state, there were 401 properties presented to auction in Melbourne this week, with 74% returning a successful result according to preliminary figures. This places Melbourne between Sydney and Canberra in the clearance rate stakes and adds weight to predictions that Australia’s east coast capital cities will forge ahead this quarter, enjoying a prosperous start to the year. Local property stylists are in agreeance, reporting a boost in Melbourne bookings this month compared with this time last year, as agents and vendors ready homes for sale (Domain). These higher stock levels should encourage confidence among sellers, as low interest rates and first homebuyer activity fuels the local property market. On this, Head of Research at CoreLogic, Tim Lawless shared the below:

"Our expectation is that through the March quarter we probably will see listing numbers rising much more substantially as we see homeowners taking advantage of what have been quite strong selling conditions."

Head of Research, Tim Lawless 

If you’re thinking of putting your home on the market, it appears Melbourne’s the place and now is the time! Our expert team await your call.