The Sydney home auction market spluttered into life last weekend with typically low numbers of listings producing a reasonable result for sellers. The local market reported a clearance rate of 65.3 per cent last Saturday which was well ahead of the 43.2 per cent reported over the same weekend last year
Although auction numbers were low, the 55 homes listed were nonetheless higher than the 47 listings recorded over the same opening weekend last year.
The lower north, Canterbury Bankstown and the south west all reported 100 per cent clearance rates last weekend from low listing numbers. Next highest was the northern beaches 75 per cent followed by the upper north shore, the inner west and the north west each with 66.7 per cent, the west 55.6 per cent, the south and the city and east each with 50.0 per cent and the central coast with a clearance rate of 42.9 per cent.
Auction numbers in Sydney will surge this weekend as the market steps a gear with the lengthy holiday season now completed and buyers and seller gradually re-focussing on the local market. Well over 200 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer on Saturday which will be similar to the 217 conducted over the same weekend last year.
The west suburban region will host the most number of auctions with 34 followed by the inner west 27, the upper north shore 25, the northern beaches and the city and east each with 21, the south 19, the lower north 17, the central coast and the south west each with 16, the north west 12 and Canterbury Bankstown with 10 auctions listed on Saturday.
The most popular suburbs for auctions this weekend in Sydney are Blacktown, Marrickville and Parramatta each with 4 followed by a number of suburbs with 3 auctions listed including Castle Hill, St Ives, Turramurra, Ryde and Balgowlah.
Low auction numbers can result in misleading insights into the underlying nature of the housing market with more robust understandings set to be revealed as listings climb sharply over coming weekends.
The Reserve Bank will meet for the first time this year next week to decide the level of official interest rates for February. Recent economic data remains underwhelming, particularly with the national jobless rate rising to 5.8 percent over December – the highest result for the year. Although the Bank is more likely to leave rates on hold for the fifth consecutive month, a pre-emptive early year cut similar to February 2015 can’t be ruled out.