![\"Homes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f7c4359c316f6e0956f0726c76165bd90e7630c2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nPowell said almost two in five of Sydney\u2019s September auctions sold prior, the highest level since October 2021, showing the market is heating up, but the level of prior sales was not as strong in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
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She thought three interest rate cuts this year made buyers feel a sense of urgency to get a deal done before prices rise further.<\/p>\n
\u201cImproved borrowing power is definitely driving some to make faster decisions, particularly when you\u2019ve got momentum building in a market,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not expecting boom-time scenarios in terms of price growth but a buyer will be mindful prices are rising.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auctioneer Clarence White of Menck White said most homes were selling and Sydney\u2019s clearance rate of 71.2 per cent looked \u201cnot bad on paper\u201d but did not tell the whole story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is still a lingering price caution with buyers and buyers are still approaching auctions with a tentative approach, wanting to bid in small increments \u2026 sometimes showing reluctance to bid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Homes are selling but buyers are price-sensitive.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you misprice a home in the current market, you get the price guide too high, you just won\u2019t get any traction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe buyer of today is a very value-conscious buyer \u2013 they\u2019re not buying it at any price.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thought buyers had become more confident with each rate cut, but as economists warn there may not be any more rate cuts this year, and more homes are listed for sale this spring, he thought the extra supply may have a moderating effect on competition.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThings are going to be fine. It\u2019s going to sell \u2013 it\u2019s just not going to be explosive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top-end Melbourne buyer\u2019s agent Emma Bloom, of Morrell and Koren, said the hope of a more buoyant spring market was concentrated in the sub-$2 million category, not among prestige homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really not happening at the top end,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re all expressions of interest [campaigns], and that\u2019s because agents are protecting the value of properties given that there\u2019s usually one [bidder] or none, and they\u2019re not the ingredients for a competitive auction scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it was different at the lower end of the market, where homes were transacting, although she did not know how many were runaway results.<\/p>\n
LJ Hooker Group head of research Mathew Tiller said the expanded Australian government\u2019s 5% deposit scheme from the start of October would add to the buyer demand that had already increased due to rate cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cLower interest rates, better mortgage serviceability, higher borrowing capacity and now the first home buyer guarantee scheme coming in \u2013 it\u2019s just all building demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen both attendance at open homes and on auction day being quite elevated through the past couple of months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s still going to be a pretty active and competitive spring for auctions. We are seeing the number of auctions begin to rise and the number of listings begin to rise but definitely nowhere above the level of demand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Powell said almost two in five of Sydney\u2019s September auctions sold prior, the highest level since October 2021,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,220,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-76747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-markets","tag-business","tag-markets","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}