The hot property market shows no signs of abating, despite fears over interest rate growth, according to figures released by CoreLogic.
Auction volumes have remained very elevated, with the weekend just passed marking the third best of the year so far.
In Sydney, it was the second busiest weekend for home auctions while volumes in Brisbane are over double where they were last year.
The main drivers of the continuing strong performance are thought to be the combination of the traditional spring selling season, the rush to get property deals done in time for Christmas and the fear that interest rate rises and spiralling prices will make buying a home harder in 2022.
Justin Nickerson is one of the leading auctioneers in the white hot South East Queensland market, and has seen firsthand how the market has gone up a notch in recent weeks.
“The spring selling has been borne out of climates that aren’t favourable in winter,” he said. “What has happened traditionally is that, in those climates, everyone has their hibernates because they feel like it’s a bit more dreary and properties don’t present as well.”
“The theory is that when spring comes, properties present better and people come out looking. Where I am in Queensland, we have more properties come to the market in spring, but we never have an uptick in sales because it spring doesn’t really mean anything to a Queenslander other than it gets a bit hotter and you get swooped by magpies.”
“Even in Sydney, it’s very much the same. It’s this antiquated belief that everyone thinks that it’s the best time to sell, but when everyone thinks that, it means more properties come to the market and makes it an inferior time to sell.”
“What we’re seeing at the moment, which we always see in November, is the pre-Christmas rush. At this date and time in particular, it’s because last weekend and the coming weekend are the last two where, within the standard settlement period, you can still settle in time for Christmas. You could be having Christmas lunch around the new pool in your new house.”
According to Nickerson, there are no signals that the home auction market is slowing down at all.
“You get a real push in this time of year,” he said. “People also want to sell pre-Christmas, so they don’t have the burden of being in that limbo period when the industry shuts down from late December to mid-January.”
“We’re fully booked all the way through to the last weekend before Christmas, and I don’t think we’ll see a slowdown at all. Even if people can’t be in the property prior to Christmas, they want to know that they’ve bought by then and not have to worry about it.”
“The market is so strong now. The interest rates are something that people are thinking about, as well as the FOMO. The fear of being priced out of the market is a real thing too. People think if they don’t buy now, there’s so signs that the market is going to stop so are they going to be able to afford a property next year?”
“All those things create pressure, whether real or perceived, that buyers are feeling.”
