Better than last year weekend auctions suggests buyers momentum

Sydney's auction housing market regained its 60% plus success rate status at weekend auctions.

There was a preliminary 62.1% clearance rate, according to Australian Property Monitors.

The clearance rate in the prior weekend initially scraped in at 60.3% which ranked as the eighth consecutive result above 60% - and sat as the best sequence of results since autumn 2010.

However the revised APM tally was 58.6%.

Dr Andrew Wilson, the APM senior economist, notes although Sydney's auction clearance rates are higher than those recorded at the same time last year, the number of properties being offered each weekend remains consistently below last year's levels.

"While buyer momentum has gradually built during spring, sellers have remained relatively subdued," Dr Wilson said.

He says the prestige market was the main culprit, with the number of properties for sale in the eastern suburbs, lower north shore and northern beaches continuing to be "restrained."

"These are also the suburbs where weekend auction clearance rates continue to fluctuate."

The APM data shows the inner-west and Canterbury-Bankstown areas, however, remain hot spots both for listing numbers and auction clearance rates.

A clearance rate of 64% was recorded this weekend in Melbourne compared to 59% last weekend and 49% for the same weekend last year, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

"This time last year was the low point for the 2011 spring selling season and the result this weekend illustrates the improvement in the market this spring," said Enzo Raimondo, the chief of the REIV.