National Clearance Rate Revels In Face Of Restrictions
Despite lending restrictions announced by APRA, the auction market continues to perform.
Despite lending restrictions announced by APRA, the auction market continues to perform.
National auction markets produced further strong results on Saturday despite the introduction of loan restriction from the financial regulator, APRA.
It comes as national auction numbers soar at the weekend, following last weekend’s holiday in most states. Melbourne was also bolstered by a sharp revival in listings following the recent easing of local covid restrictions on property inspections.
A total of 1858 homes went under the hammer national compared to the 254 auctions reported the previous Saturday – well ahead of the 948 listed this time last year. Of the properties auctions at the weekend, the national clearance rate recorded 86.1% – similar to the previous weekend’s 86.5%.
Sydney market continues to surge relentlessly recording an astonishing clearance rate at 86.6% at the weekend, just bellowed the previous weekend’s 87.1%. It is the 10th consecutive weekend the NSW capital has recorded clearance rates above 80% and six straight weekends above 85%.
In line with national trends, Sydney saw a rise in home’s listed, up to 611 homes compared to Saturday’s 455.
Further, Sydney recorded a median price of $1,712,500 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was lower than the $1,870,000 reported over the previous Saturday but 22.3% higher than the $1,400,000 recorded over the same weekend last year.
Melbourne’s recent easing of property restrictions has seen a boost to the local housing market.
A wave of 932 homes were listed for auction at the weekend – significantly more than the 571 reported over the previous weekend and well ahead of the 57 auctions over the same weekend last year.
The boost in numbers saw the clearance fall to 76.6% – well below the previous weekend’s 80.1%.
Further, the easing of restrictions saw the auction withdrawal rate down to 12.9%, well below the rates seen through September which were well into the 20%.
Melbourne recorded a median price of $1,060,000 for houses sold at auction at the weekend which was slightly lower than the $1,100,000 recorded over the previous weekend but significantly higher than the $746,500 recorded over the same weekend last year
There is no end in sight to current weekend auction market results, although APRA has announced lending restrictions, this may only act to fuel runaway activity, bringing forward buyer demand.
Data powered by Dr Andrew Wilson, My Housing Market.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
This may be contributing to continually rising weekly rents
There has been a substantial increase in the number of Australians earning high incomes who are renting their homes instead of owning them, and this may be another element contributing to higher market demand and continually rising rents, according to new research.
The portion of households with an annual income of $140,000 per year (in 2021 dollars), went from 8 percent of the private rental market in 1996 to 24 percent in 2021, according to research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). The AHURI study highlights that longer-term declines in the rate of home ownership in Australia are likely the cause of this trend.
The biggest challenge this creates is the flow-on effect on lower-income households because they may face stronger competition for a limited supply of rental stock, and they also have less capacity to cope with rising rents that look likely to keep going up due to the entrenched undersupply.
The 2024 ANZ CoreLogic Housing Affordability Report notes that weekly rents have been rising strongly since the pandemic and are currently re-accelerating. “Nationally, annual rent growth has lifted from a recent low of 8.1 percent year-on-year in October 2023, to 8.6 percent year-on-year in March 2024,” according to the report. “The re-acceleration was particularly evident in house rents, where annual growth bottomed out at 6.8 percent in the year to September, and rose to 8.4 percent in the year to March 2024.”
Rents are also rising in markets that have experienced recent declines. “In Hobart, rent values saw a downturn of -6 percent between March and October 2023. Since bottoming out in October, rents have now moved 5 percent higher to the end of March, and are just 1 percent off the record highs in March 2023. The Canberra rental market was the only other capital city to see a decline in rents in recent years, where rent values fell -3.8 percent between June 2022 and September 2023. Since then, Canberra rents have risen 3.5 percent, and are 1 percent from the record high.”
The Productivity Commission’s review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement points out that high-income earners also have more capacity to relocate to cheaper markets when rents rise, which creates more competition for lower-income households competing for homes in those same areas.
ANZ CoreLogic notes that rents in lower-cost markets have risen the most in recent years, so much so that the portion of earnings that lower-income households have to dedicate to rent has reached a record high 54.3 percent. For middle-income households, it’s 32.2 percent and for high-income households, it’s just 22.9 percent. ‘Housing stress’ has long been defined as requiring more than 30 percent of income to put a roof over your head.
While some high-income households may aspire to own their own homes, rising property values have made that a difficult and long process given the years it takes to save a deposit. ANZ CoreLogic data shows it now takes a median 10.1 years in the capital cities and 9.9 years in regional areas to save a 20 percent deposit to buy a property.
It also takes 48.3 percent of income in the cities and 47.1 percent in the regions to cover mortgage repayments at today’s home loan interest rates, which is far greater than the portion of income required to service rents at a median 30.4 percent in cities and 33.3 percent in the regions.
Just 55 minutes from Sydney, make this your creative getaway located in the majestic Hawkesbury region.
This stylish family home combines a classic palette and finishes with a flexible floorplan