30th January 2023 / Jeremy Desmier: Market Update | January 2023

It's hard to believe but summer holidays are coming to an end, the Australian Open is done and dusted for another year, and thousands of children are heading back to school.

The biggest talk in property last year was, of course, the increase in the official cash rate – from 0.1% throughout most of the pandemic, to 3.1% between May and December. Despite this, we were pleased to have a strong end to the year, with an average clearance rate of 82% at auction in December.

We saw that whilst the interest rate hikes were an initial shock to potential buyers, they have now adjusted to this new norm and are more mindful of their adjusted borrowing capacity. In the first month of the year, one of the main considerations for prospective buyers has been lack of stock, as they wait for sellers to come to market.

One of the factors affecting buyer demand has been the return of migration, with the REA Group revealing the suburbs that international buyers want to live in. The CBD, Toorak, South Yarra, St Kilda, and Brighton are the most searched areas by realestate.com.au users based offshore looking to buy. Glen Waverley is the only outer suburb to feature in the top 10, while Glen Huntly and Ormond have experienced the biggest growth in demand.

PropTrack senior analyst, Karen Dellow, did note that "increased migration will have a more significant impact on the rental market than the buy and sell market."

Glen Waverley was the most popular suburb for "buy" searches from China, St Kilda for searches from the UK, and Doncaster East for searches from Hong Kong.

Carlton, a student favourite close to universities, was dominant for searches for rentals.

As auctions return in higher numbers on the weekend, we look forward to seeing plenty of prospective buyers out and about, as people well and truly settle back into their routines.

Results. It's a Fletchers thing.