Weekly Market Wrap with Leigh Martinuzzi
Auction clearance rates remain low. Of the approximate 1200 results collected so far highlighting a clearance rate for the week ending the 14th of June sitting around 77.4%. Last week CoreLogic reports a 73.5% clearance rate which was later revised down to 70.6%. With property availability still struggling to keep up with buyer demand, we continue to see a steady climb in prices. This week once again we’ve seen a 0.5% weekly gain with year-to-date figures sitting at 10.9% nationally.
The number of new listings reaching our markets is up once again on the previous 12 months sitting at 36.8% or 23,992 new properties. Nationally, the number of total listing across the 12 months is still down 11.1% and locally this number is even more significant with Brisbane recording total listings down 24.4%. Without any available statistics of our local market, I’d suggest we are also experiencing similar shortages on the Sunshine Coast as they are in Brisbane. As older listings are being absorbed and buyer demand still up available opportunities for purchasers is scarce.
ANZ predicts the RBA will lift the cash rate earlier than the second half of 2023. The reason for this is because forecasts currently suggest that inflation will rise above 2% over the next couple of years and wage growth to over 3%. If that occurs the RBA will be more inclined to bring the cash rate back to 0.5% which was last seen in March 2020. On top of these forecasts, ANZ also forecasts a lowering unemployment rate as construction growth and business investments continue to improve. Although, as pointed out by ANZ, the uncertainty in their forecasts is wider than usual for two reasons: Firstly, Australia’s economy might grow more rapidly than expected forcing the RBA to raise the cash rate more quickly; and secondly, a COVID complication that may knock everything off track. Time will tell!
