Property Research

The Victorian residential auction market has continued to perform to trend, with a clearance rate in April 2012 of 60 per cent.  There were 1,523 auctions reported to the REIV, with 909 properties selling. This was less than half of the volume in March and a consquence of the timing of easter and the fact there were five saturday's in March.

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The March quarter house price index for the weighted average of the eight capital cities decreased by 1.1 per cent over the quarter and by 4.5 per cent over the year. The most significant drop over the quarter was recorded in Hobart (-2.7) followed by Melbourne (-2.2) and Sydney (-1.8). Improvements were recorded in Brisbane, Perth, Darwin and Canberra. Over the year all capital cities recorded a drop with the exception of Darwin. The most significant falls were in Hobart (-6.7) and Melbourne (-6.6). Sydney also fell over the year by 4.6 per cent. The change differs slightly from the REIV March quarter medians as the ABS uses different methodology to the REIV.

National dwelling approvals rose 7.4 per cent in March. Victoria experienced a 5 per cent decline in seasonally adjusted terms with the number of dwelling approvals was at 3450. The last time Victoria experienced a similar level of dwelling approvals was during the GFC, where approvals were averaging below 3500 from March 2008 to May 2009. Victoria also reported a falling trend for the 17th consecutive month.

The March 2012 housing finance figures showed a second consecutive monthly increase of first-home buyers and non-first home buyers in Victoria. In comparison to March 2011 figures, the number of first-home buyer loans has increased whereas the number of non-first home buyer loans has decreased. Overall, the total number of home loans for March 2012 is 7.4% less compared to March 2011.

According to March 2012 figures, the total value of owner-occupied housing commitments, excluding alterations and additions has decreased for the third consecutive month in both trend and seasonally adjusted terms. The total value decreased 0.5% and 0.3% for trend and seasonally adjusted terms from last month.