Auction reporting this early in the year serves no purpose to speculation for the remainder of the year but it does give comfort to those of us with a vested interest in the market, even if it’s based on faith.
It is interesting to see though, that the auction results for the first decent recordings for the year was close to 80% which was 2016‘s low-end benchmark. Coupled with the RBA holding rates at the record low of 1.5%, if nothing else, it serves to quench our thirst that late December and early January provided us with pure speculation.
There was 228 Auctions listed with only 157 actually taking place and 134 reported to have sold. There were 13 properties NOTED as withdrawn for whatever reason.
I have spoken to agents in surrounding areas of the Upper North Shore, Lower North Shore and Inner West and it seems that while some areas have more stock than others, supply is being outweighed by demand. Buyers are however, more savvy and becoming more particular so it hasn’t toppled the supply/demand equation just yet.
The next few rate announcements will be the ones to watch, I think, especially with all the recent chatter from CBA regarding refinancing for investors and the speculation that the other big banks are soon to follow. … Watch this space.
One last note, I read an article today that suggested that developers are starting to finance ‘foreign investors’ into their projects, is this the new loophole? …. Another ‘watch this space’.
Thomas Merriman.
Thomas Merriman 