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A sign stands at the front of a house after it was sold at an auction in the Sydney suburb of Waverley in Australia May 28, 2015. Australia and New Zealand are looking outside traditional monetary policy to do the same thing -- cool red-hot housing markets in their biggest cites without hurting borrowers, banks and their economies -- but they are following different paths. The success, or not, of these experiments could prove critical to the outlook for interest rates in both countries, while offering a guide to other rich nations on how to manage housing booms when the broader economy still needs support. Reuters/David Gray

The spring selling season is finally here, with buyers and sellers bucking up to conclude transactions before Christmas. This weekend marks the beginning of spring auctions, yet in August, large number of auctions were also recorded.

In Melbourne, thousands of auctions were held last week and numbers are believed to be ramping up.

Compared to August of last year, there has been remarkable increase in auctions. This time, there were as many as 4,264 auctions, recording a 33.7 percent jump. Auction numbers are predicted to decrease compared to last weekend which recorded 860 listings. However, it’s higher than the 715 listings in 2014.

According to Domain group analysis, auctions in the inner suburban areas are likely to go up steadily with spring being just a doorstep away. For the weekend auctions in inner suburban areas, South Yarra has 21 listings, followed by St Kilda with 18, Reservoir 16, 13 for both Brighton and Glen Iris, and 12 for both North Balwyn and Cheltenham.

But the inner south is all set to conduct the highest number of auctions with 150 listings, followed by the inner city with 137, the outer east 119, the west 117, the inner east 110, the north east 109, the north 71 and the south east 47.

In Melbourne, the auction clearance rate reached 79.1 percent, a straight jump from 77.1 percent that was recorded at the same weekend last year. “In Melbourne we’re expecting a lot more auction strength over spring,” CoreLogic RP Data head of research Cameron Kusher said.

At the same time, Sydney’s innumerable homes, which have been up for sale, gave late winter auction market a run for their money. The share prices fell at the weekend with clearance rate of 76.4 percent on the last weekend of August, straight down from 79.7 percent recorded in the previous weekend. Nonetheless, auction market strengthened over August with an overall monthly clearance rate of 76.2 percent.

Auction prices have gone up by 13.1 percent, representing Australia’s hot housing market growth and the impact of the underlying prices. Another rate cut could be expected from the Reserve Bank of Australia, but for the month of September, it has left interest rates on hold.

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