Sydney property boom continues as clearance rates pick up

Despite five weeks of an auction clearance downturn in the Sydney property market, the latest results have proven the housing boom is still alive with buyers snapping up 71.5% of dwellings listed on Saturday.

The cool weather during a busy school holiday period wasn’t enough to dissuade home buyers in Sydney last weekend, as they collectively purchased $304.3 million worth of housing at auctions, according to Domain.

These results have come as no surprise to Mozo’s Property Expert, Steve Jovcevski, who believes the boost in clearance rates are a predictable outcome of the July 1 stamp duty exemptions and concessions coming into effect.

“Over the last few weeks we’ve seen a lull in the Sydney property market and I suspect it was largely due to first home buyers holding off until the stamp duty perks in NSW kicked in,” he said.

“Well last weekend clearly indicates that it only took one week for the market to heat up again, which is no coincidence if you ask me.”

Jovcevski suspects that house prices may tilt upwards over the next few months, once supply begins to fall short of the demand required by the first home buyer market.

“Housing supply is key at the moment, because you have people with deposits, flooding the market in the race to buy property before prices go up again.”

According to the Housing Industry Association (HIA), building approvals in NSW dropped 22.4% in May, compared to the same time last year.

“This slowdown is in stark contrast to the growing demands of first home buyers and the need to promote an increase in housing supply,” said Principal Economist at HIA, Tim Reardon.

If you’re looking to make your dreams of homeownership come true, the good news is that interest rates have been moving in the favour of owner occupiers paying off the principal and interest, rather than interest only borrowers. See the table below the top rates or compare hundreds of mortgages at Mozo’s home loan hub.