Australia Property: Melbourne Market Apparently Making a Comeback

I can't believe what I am reading; apparently the Melbourne property market is already recovering. In an almost overnight recovery demand from buyers continues to outstrip even swelling stock levels, according to The Age.

The article is based on the auction clearance rate, which has been above 80% for the last 6 weeks, and hit its second highest level ever this week past, beaten only by July 2007.

REIV chief executive Enzo Raimondo said it was an "exceptional result" that indicated the growing confidence consumers have in Melbourne's property market, regardless of the wider economic problems. "I don't think we're going into a boom, but it's hard not to see strong similarities between recent market activity and what was going on in 2007," he said.

Paul Nugent, director of Wakelin Property Advisory, said comparisons with 2007 were becoming increasingly appropriate.

In the UK housing market many analysts have gotten burnt for putting too much weight behind monthly figures. Although these figures for the Melbourne property market are over six weeks they may still be a dead cat bounce.

It is also worth mentioning that there is no mention of what proportion of the auctioned properties were repossessed homes, which will always have a higher clearance rate than a market during normal conditions because of the low reserves.