Geelong market bucks trend with clearance rate rise
GEELONG has recorded its best clearance rate in more than a month despite the national clearance rate lagging at a six-year low.
CoreLogic data shows last week’s clearance rate in Geelong was 69.2 per cent from 39 recorded results. It was also the strongest regional centre. The previous week it was 60.5 per cent from 38 recorded results but hit 40.5 per cent with 42 recorded results the week before.
A charming period house in Thomson sold for $660,000 to a young couple from Melbourne at auction on the weekend, according to Hodges, Geelong West agent Marcus Falconer.
The house at 14 Breakwater Rd was on the edge of East Geelong and South Geelong and looked like it was a home in Geelong West.
CoreLogic yesterday said there were 2689 homes taken to auction over the past week in the combined capital cities, down 46 from the previous week, and 749 fewer than the same point in 2017.
There were nearly 300 fewer auctions in Melbourne alone, while Adelaide, Canberra, and Perth also had reduced numbers last week.
Sydney, however, saw nearly 150 extra auctions in what proved to be its fifth busiest week of the year, with an improved clearance rate of 52.4 per cent across its 1021 listings. Sydney’s busiest auction regions were North Sydney and Hornsby, the city and inner south, the eastern suburbs and northern beaches.
The most expensive Sydney home sold during the week was a four-bedroom home at Palm Beach for $9.8 million.
The national weighed clearance figure of 46.9 per cent for the week is likely to be revised lower, but thanks to the Sydney figures it should beat the previous weekly rate of 42 per cent, the lowest recorded since June 2012.
Elsewhere, Brisbane’s auction numbers edged higher, increasing by 10 to 192, though the city’s clearance rate fell below 40 per cent. Melbourne had a 44 per cent clearance rate for the week, Canberra 45.9 per cent, Adelaide 52.4, and Perth just 13.6 per cent.