The State election being held on Saturday did not deter buyers, in fact it meant that there were more people attending auctions in their local area. 1,213 auctions were reported this weekend with a clearance rate of 66 per cent. From those auctions 805 properties sold and 408 were passed in, 209 of those on a vendor bid. In addition to the auctions, there were also 391 private sales reported.
The suburbs with the most auctions held this weekend were Richmond, Port Melbourne, Reservoir, Doncaster East and St Kilda, where the election did not seem to scare vendors off. November has seen a massive increase in the number of auctions held in Melbourne and it’s been reported by CoreLogic RP Data that Melbourne is on track to have 87,000 residential property transactions this year. That figure is 3,600 more than 2013, but still shy of the 2009 record of 97,800.
The weekend market showed signs of confidence as both buyers and sellers were pushing for sales before Christmas. Such a lifestyle deadline is a clear motivator as most buyers are hoping to move in to their new property before the school year begins in February, whilst sellers are hoping to capitalise on this fact.