Just over 1,500 auctions are set to take place this weekend Australia-wide, reinforcing analysis which considers there to be early signs of improvement in the housing market.
Research analyst for CoreLogic Cameron Kusher has outlined that despite a continued decline in housing values nationwide to June, “the monthly rate of decline has been slowing right throughout 2019 with no change in values throughout the month of July”.
“The improvement in market conditions was more evident across the combined capital cities, while the combined regional markets have seen the magnitude of declines trend higher throughout 2019,” he outlined.
Mr Kusher credited the improvement in housing market conditions as “largely being driven by a slowing rate of decline in values in Sydney and Melbourne throughout 2019 with increases over the past two months”.
In the CoreLogic Auction Market Preview for the week ending 1 September 2019, the number of auctions currently being tracked to take place this weekend is up from last week’s 1,415.
Melbourne, in particular, will be a hive of auction activity, with around 720 homes set to go under the hammer.
While it’s less than this time last year, when 805 took place, it’s up from last week’s 662.
The city will also be able to claim the top six busiest suburbs for auctions over the weekend, with Reservoir hosting 13 auctions, Frankston and Mount Waverley both expecting 12 auctions, and Bentleigh East, Doncaster East and Richmond to see 11 auctions apiece.
According to Mr Kusher, “Melbourne is the only city where values increases occurred over the past three months”.
Over the period, it saw growth of 0.1 of a percentage point.
In Sydney, 559 auctions are expected for the week ending 1 September 2019.
It’s a higher volume week-on-week after 503 were held last week, but is also lower than this time last year when 664 auctions were recorded.
Mr Kusher noted that to July 2019, Sydney dwellings have fallen by 14.7 per cent from their peak.
Despite such a drop, he said in the past three months, seven Sydney regions have avoided falls, but highlighted that Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury (-15.7 per cent), Inner West (-15.9 per cent), North Sydney and Hornsby (-15.4 per cent), and Sutherland (-16.7 per cent) all recorded larger falls than the Sydney benchmark.
The analyst said it was “a similar story for Melbourne”, where four regions avoided value falls in the past three months.
In many instances, it is those areas where values have recorded larger declines over recent years that are showing the largest improvement, according to Mr Kusher.
He said it will be “interesting to see if the improvement continues and whether it spreads from Sydney and Melbourne to other capital cities and regional markets”.
For the smaller auction markets, CoreLogic has reported that Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth are expecting a rise in auction volumes week-on-week for the week ending 1 September 2019.
Canberra will see a fall in auction volumes, while Tasmania is expected to only hold one auction this weekend.