As Sydney witnessed one of the biggest auction days of the year with 1,083 going under the hammer, the auction clearance slid signalling the potential cooling off of the property market.

On Saturday, Sydney recorded an all-time low clearance rate at 63.4 per cent which had gone above 80 per cent back in 2014 over the same period. However, the rate in Sydney’s inner regions remained comparatively higher.

As of record, the auction clearance rate has been falling since the beginning of the spring selling season due to property price surge and other investor’s activity. With the auction rate plunged to 63.4 per cent in October, the number of buyers also decreased marginally. Experts believed that the auction market downturn was the result of Westpac hiking up its interest rates and a glut of spring property on the market.

With the start of the spring selling season, auction listings have been quite higher with sellers trying to grab opportunities from the weak property market. According to the Domain Group, the second week of November would have another 1,000 listings which would help to test the Sydney auction market further.

Although inner suburban areas recorded highest auction rates, results were not as good as the last weekend. The Blue Mountains produced a 100 per cent clearance rate at the weekend.

The most expensive property was sold for $5.85 million by Devine Real Estate (19 Newton Road, Strathfield), while the most affordable property reported to be sold at the weekend was a one-bedroom unit at 7/16A Wigram Street, Harris Park for sold for $360,500 by AB Property Consultants.

Going by the trend, weekend auction prices outer suburbs continue to yield lower sales volume. Australia’s economy has been on the edge as tensions escalate with future performance of the global economy. On one hand, China has been cutting down on interest rates to bolster, and on the other, Europe and Japan are initiating policies to stimulate their weak economies.

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