The Sydney auction clearance rate tumbled to 56.4 per cent on Saturday, the second time in a fortnight the crucial market measure has fallen below 60 per cent.

The city experienced a market of “niches” on the weekend, with certain property types in the inner suburbs – such as level blocks with development potential and renovated homes in good locations – faring best.

Inner regions such as the city and eastern suburbs and the inner west also out-performed areas farther out.

But buyers in general were happy to tell vendors they were dreaming when it came to overblown asking prices.

A new home at 11 Peregrine Drive, Greenhills Beach, on Bate Bay near Cronulla, was passed in at auction on Saturday after one genuine bid of $3 million was posted in front of a crowd of 100 onlookers.

Buyer’s agent Rodney McLoughlin, from TBAS, made the solo bid on behalf of a client. He said the reserve on the McGrath-listed five-bedroom property was $3.5 million: “We raised our offer to $3.15 million, however the vendors won’t meet the current market conditions.”

The prime markets of the north shore, the city and east and the inner-west are performing at a higher level because people try to buy in the best location they can afford. They recognise that this purchasing strategy gives them the best chance of maximising capital growth and the least chance they will watch a property drop in value.

The Agency’s Scott Thornton said a Federation-era home in largely original condition at 41 Prince Street, Mosman, did well because of its 516-square-metre level allotment, R3 medium density zoning and a north-facing rear.

More than 80 onlookers turned out to the fixer-upper’s auction on Saturday. There were six registered bidders, four of whom bid. The property, with a $2.8 million guide price, sold to a local Mosman family for $3.11 million after it was declared on the market at $3.05 million.

“The market is in a good place,” Mr Thornton said. “It’s a fair market for buyers and sellers: if the property is priced correctly, it will sell. The buyers are too well-educated now to pay ridiculous prices. If you are not in line with the market place, buyers will not engage with you.”

But Domain Group data scientist Nicola Powell said subdued market conditions continued to weigh heavily on Sydney’s auction performance. “With lending activity stalling and auction indicators slipping it signals further adjustments to home prices are likely,” she noted.

This weekend’s 56.4 per cent clearance rate was taken from 333 reported results. Real estate agents withdrew 89 properties from auction on Saturday and are still to report results for 155 scheduled auctions.

Last weekend’s clearance rate was 62.3 per cent while on April 28 and 29 the city-wide clearance level was at 58.1 per cent, well below the 73 per cent-plus sales success rates that were seen a year ago.





The changes to clearance rates in some areas are striking. In the first three months of 2017, eight out of 10 homes in the upper north shore sold at auction. In the first quarter of this year, fewer than half of the auctioned properties in that region sold, while suburbs such as Lindfield, Ryde, Turramurra and Eastwood have also experienced nosediving clearance rates.

Sydney’s top-reported sale this weekend was a four-bedroom house at 30-32 Glebe Street, Randwick. The property on 757 square metres sold before auction for $4.5 million through BresicWhitney. Meanwhile, a home at 21 Boomerang Street, Turramurra, fetched $4.35 million through Di Jones Real Estate North Shore.