Whether or not the slight rise in some banks interest rates and the possibility of continued rate rise has a direct impact on sales, it definitely has an emotional impact on people reading about it.
Auction clearance rates were slightly down at the weekend to 76% and the median sale price at auction was at $1,200,000 which is also slightly down.
It may be a coincidence that this has occurred at the end of a week where the OECD has indicated rates should be raised and a number of big banks actually followed suit. Or, it may just be that the market is starting to naturally quieten for the year as people plan for holidays and auction campaigns come to a wrap.
Whatever it is, I think it will bounce back at least for the first quarter of 2017.
There were originally 874 properties listed for auction with 570 reported to have gone up and 479 sold under the hammer. There were 62 properties withdrawn for whatever reason – significantly higher than most earlier weeks in the year.
Thomas Merriman.
Thomas Merriman 