Our city feels truly alive once again with the return of Melbourne’s crowds, cafes and in person house inspections and auctions.
We witnessed record auction volumes for October, with Domain reporting a staggering 291 per cent rise. The month ended with 6139 scheduled auctions.
Much to the delight of vendors and buyers, this translated to Melbourne’s clearance rates reaching their highest level so far in 2021, securing a 75.3 per cent clearance rate across the month for all properties.
Figures from Domain show the last time clearance rates were higher was in April 2017. We also saw the number of properties listed for sale increase by almost 120 per cent in the four weeks to mid-October.
Melbourne’s housing values rose almost one per cent in October, bringing our median price for houses to $972,659 and units to $621,898.
Suburbs serviced by Noel Jones in Melbourne’s east are performing better than ever, as Blackburn’s median house price soars to $1.6m. This marks a 17.2 per cent price jump in the last year – the biggest of any eastern suburb.
Blackburn North and Doncaster East rounded out the top three, as house prices grew to $1.24m and $1.42m respectively. The top performing suburb for units was Burwood, which has reached a median of $873,500.
Among the highlights for Noel Jones in October was the sale of a four-bedroom house in Nunawading for $2.21m, beating the suburb’s median price for four bedders by $870,000.
We also helped a three-bedroom home in Burwood change hands for $1.55m, well above the suburb’s median of $1.28 for three-bedders.
A two-bedroom unit in Doncaster East was sold by Noel Jones for $762,000, bucking the median unit price in the area by close to $200,000.
Noel Jones has also noticed Melbourne’s rental market regaining some of the steam lost during repeated lockdowns.
While we’re currently the most affordable city to rent a house in Australia for the first time on record, this is expected to change as interstate and international travellers return.
Some economists are forecasting that the Reserve Bank could lift interest rates next year – earlier than initially thought as Australia’s economy bounces back strongly from the pandemic.
We will watch closely for any interest rate changes, which will impact Australia’s housing market performance over the medium to long term.
Meanwhile from 1 November, banks began to roll out new lending restrictions for borrowers.
The new rules increase the interest rate buffer on mortgage serviceability tests and will likely reduce the budgets of potential buyers by around five per cent.
Meanwhile in some news for the Noel Jones team, we took home two awards at the 2021 Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) Awards for Excellence.
Noel Jones Mitcham won the Small Agency of the Year award, while Noel Jones Corporate led the Corporate Promotion category. We congratulate all the deserving winners and finalists.
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