Weekly Market Update - 17th July 2017
By | 17th Jul 17

Melbourne had a consistent 79% clearance rate from 515 auctions and there was a smaller volume of auctions due to the school holidays as many vendors hold off putting their properties on the market until the kids are back at school. First Home Buyers were back in force buoyed by the new stamp duty concessions that are now available. We saw six First Home Buyers battle it out at an auction in Thomastown and all three of the bidders at our Vendor Advocacy auction in North Melbourne were First Home Buyers. Investors were nowhere to be seen, so it looks like the changes look like they are having a positive effect.

The REIV released the latest June quarter median price figures and it showed that Melbourne prices are still on the rise. They haven’t peaked yet or started to plateau as prices have once again increased. The median house price increased 2.9% to $822,000 and units/apartments increased 4.3% to a record high of $606,500. Until these prices start to plateau off, we haven’t seen the peak in this market cycle yet.

The apartment market continues to be patchy as we have seen recently where there were four apartment auctions that we attended and none of them had any live bids and one in St Kilda East was cancelled. That is the second time we have seen an auction cancelled, as we saw one cancelled recently in Elwood which was very surprising but it’s largely due to the fact that there has been a major over supply in apartments in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, especially in the city. There are now some great opportunities for First Home Buyers to get into that market and get a good opportunity at buying an investment grade unit with some land that will achieve capital growth, therefore allowing them to purchase a house in the future.  Many First Home Buyers are missing out on buying a house at the moment because there is so much more competition in the housing market with six bidders versus hardly any competition at apartment auctions.

 Please don’t hesitate to visit our website www.advantageproperty.com.au or contact us regarding our popular Buyer’s Advocate, Vendor Advocacy, Property Management, Owner’s Corporation services and Group Block Purchases, including our future villa unit opportunity at 159 O'Shanassy Street, Sunbury (approximately $250,000 each, with rental return of approximately $225-$235 per week or 5%).