Housing market in slowdown

AUSTRALIA’S housing market is losing further steam with a drop in the number of properties put up for auction over the past week and little more than half of them selling.

The auction clearance rate fell to 55.8 per cent for the week to July 15, up slightly from 52.6 per cent a week earlier but still down from the 69.4 per cent recorded over the same period in 2017, according to CoreLogic.

A total of 1172 auctions were held last week, down from 1627 in the same week a year ago.

CoreLogic says the average clearance rate has remained within the low-to-mid 50 per cent range for nine straight weeks, and auction volumes have fallen over each of the past four weeks.

Auction activity continues to trend lower through the winter season, CoreLogic said yesterday, and Sydney and Melbourne are feeling the brunt of the fall.

Sydney’s auction clearance rate dropped to 52.4 per cent for the week to July 15, from 69.2 per over the same period last year

Melbourne’s rate fell to 60 per cent, from 74.9 per cent over the same period.

Private treaty sales - the non-auction sales that represent around 85 per cent of all dwelling sales across the nation - were also down in Sydney and Melbourne.

In Sydney, non-auction house sales fell to 1919 last week, compared with 2543 over the same period last year, with the median price also dropping to $870,000 from $950,000 a year ago.