31st October 2022 / Jeremy Desmier: Market Update | 29 & 30 October 2022

We alternated between bursts of sunshine and grey skies and rain over the weekend, as auction volumes decreased by 20.6% to 1,439 auctions scheduled. The drop in volume is due to the Melbourne Cup long public holiday on Tuesday (with many people taking the opportunity to enjoy an extra-long weekend by taking the Monday off)!

In Kew, intermittent rain didn't dampen activity at the auction of the renovated, two-bedroom unit at 3/24 Highbury Grove, as two parties traded bids to secure the property. Auctioneer Mark Fletcher knocked the property down as sold to the successful buyer, an investor, at $755,000.

Our team in Melton South were thrilled to sell the fully renovated, three-bedroom home at 14 Elizabeth Street, well-located close to transport and shops. Director Varun Vagdhan and the team officially opened their offices premises on Wednesday last week!

Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) President, Andrew Meehan, tips that the clearance rate from the weekend would end up at about the 70% mark, noting that "there's still a fair bit of buyer activity around".

The Domain Group reports that the market is seeing more realistic price expectations between buyers and sellers, which is helping the clearance rate to hold consistently strong this year.

In property management news, a combination of low rental stock and high demand continues to drive prices up throughout the country. PropTrack's latest Rental Report for the September quarter shows rental prices have increased at the fastest quarterly rate on record, surging by 4.3% in the past three months to reach a national median of $480 per week.

"Australia's rental market remains extremely tight, with vacancy rates and supply reducing further over the September 2022 quarter," PropTrack's director of economic research Cameron Kusher said. "As a result, rental prices nationally continued to climb."

Next week, we expect auction numbers to increase again, as we move to the last month of the Spring selling season.

Results. It's a Fletchers thing.