Australian residential property market takes another hit

Properties are taking longer to sell, buyer demand is slowing and the combined value of Australia’s residential real estate fell by $100 billion over January, according to data released by CoreLogic.

Key market metrics released by the property data provider today show a national residential market in decline as the heat comes out of the residential sector. It follows the RBA decision yesterday to raise the cash rate a further 25 basis points, its ninth increase since May last year, hitting borrowers with a 3.35 percent interest rate.

CoreLogic data also revealed national home values declined over January, down a further -1.0 percent from the December drop of -1.1 percent. Sydney property values have been hardest hit, down -13.8 percent in the past year.

The median number of days a property is on the market increased over the three months to January, up from a low of 20 days in November 2021 to 37 days. Perhaps unsurprisingly, vendor discounting has also increased, at -4.3 percent in the past quarter compared with -2.9 percent in the three months to November 2021.

While annual rent values eased slightly in January to 10.1 percent in January, yields rose over the same period to 3.9 percent, and increase from 3.21 percent a year earlier.

The personal wardrobe of the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who is credited for introducing punk to fashion and further developing the style, is headed to auction in June.

Christie’s will hold the live sale in London on June 25, while some of the pieces will be available in an online auction from June 14-28, according to a news release from the auction house on Monday.

Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s husband and the creative director for her eponymous fashion company, selected the clothing, jewellery, and accessories for the sale, and the auction will benefit charitable organisations The Vivienne Foundation, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

The more than 200 lots span four decades of Westwood’s fashion, dating to Autumn/Winter 1983-84, which was one of Westwood’s earliest collections. Titled “Witches,” the collection was inspired by witchcraft as well as Keith Haring’s “graphic code of magic symbols,” and the earliest piece being offered from it is a two-piece ensemble made of navy blue serge, according to the release.

“Vivienne Westwood’s sense of activism, art and style is embedded in each and every piece that she created,” said Adrian Hume-Sayer, the head of sale and director of Private & Iconic Collections at Christie’s.

A corset gown of taupe silk taffeta from “Dressed to Scale,” Autumn/Winter 1998-99, will also be included in the sale. The collection “referenced the fashions that were documented by the 18th century satirist James Gillray and were intended to attract as well as provoke thought and debate,” according to Christie’s.

Additionally, a dress with a blue and white striped blouse and a printed propaganda modesty panel and apron is a part of the wardrobe collection. The dress was a part of “Propaganda,” Autumn/Winter 2005-06, Westwood’s “most overtly political show” at the time. It referenced both her punk era and Aldous Huxley’s essay “Propaganda in a Democratic Society,” according to Christie’s.

The wardrobe collection will be publicly exhibited at Christie’s London from June 14-24.

“The pre-sale exhibition and auctions at Christie’s will celebrate her extraordinary vision with a selection of looks that mark significant moments not only in her career, but also in her personal life,” Hume-Sayer said. “This will be a unique opportunity for audiences to encounter both the public and the private world of the great Dame Vivienne Westwood and to raise funds for the causes in which she so ardently believed.”

Westwood died in December 2022 in London at the age of 81.

Australian residential property market takes another hit

Discounted sales and more days on market as the residential property sector responds to consecutive interest rate increases