Clearance rate going up

The election campaign has had little impact on the burgeoning property market with four in five properties selling at auction in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend.

However, it is getting the blame for the lack of stock and hopes are that October will bring an influx of quality properties.

Low interest rates and the steadily moving market are bringing a range of buyers back into play, from upsizers to investors, first home buyers and cashed-up parents trying to secure a place for their children.

Melbourne recorded a clearance rate of 76 per cent from 548 results, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, the highest rate since 2010.

Sydney maintained the more confident lead it has displayed all year with an 84 per cent clearance rate from 263 results, according to data from Australian Property Monitors.

Sydney's top sales included a five-bedroom property on the Sandringham estate at 10/122 Clareville Avenue, Sandringham, which fetched $3.2 million through R&H Sans Souci.

The inner west also performed strongly. Agents Strathfield Partners sold a new five-bedroom house at 187 Homebush Road, Strathfield, for $2.66 million.

In Melbourne, 134 properties were passed in, 71 of them on a vendor bid; 42 results had yet to be reported.

But there were some patches of softness underlying the strength of the headline figure. The clearance rate for the inner metro region - usually one of the strongest areas - was 65 per cent. The north recorded only 66 per cent and none of the properties up for auction in Epping was sold.

Four out of nine properties up for auction in trendy Northcote were passed in, including the double-storey Victorian high on the hill at 155 Clarke Street, passed in on a vendor bid of $1.85 million.

And while they achieved big prices, the four highest selling houses over the weekend in Melbourne sold after auction.

In Camberwell, Jellis Craig sold the double-fronted two-storey Victorian mansion at 3 Fermanagh Road for $4.7 million after it was passed in at $4.6 million.

On Brighton's Golden Mile, Hocking Stuart sold 9 Dawson Avenue for $3.95 million after it was passed in at $3.8 million.

And in Balwyn, the buyer of 3 Monash Avenue paid $3.16 million after the six-bedroom neo-French chateau-style house was passed in at $3.15 million through agents Christopher Russell.

Jellis Craig director Alastair Craig said he expected more people to bid at the Camberwell auction. "But the higher up the market, the fewer the number of buyers," he said.

Developers were also out in force, showing confidence in the future property market. Five developers vied for a site in Yarraville at 66 Wilson Street, with a local developer paying $2.61 million, 41 per cent over its $1.85 million reserve.

A small double-fronted Victorian house in poor condition sits on the 1932-square-metre site, which is near the station and shops. "When you have developers they tend to get egotistical and really let go," Jas H. Stephens director Craig Stephens said.

"Developers work out what price they think they will get and then work backwards. It's the working backwards that lets them bid aggressively when these unique sites come up," Mr Stephens said.

In Fitzroy Harrington Earl director John Harrington said there was some "lacklustre bidding" for a single-fronted terrace at 69 Cecil Street in Fitzroy, close to the proposed east-west-link tunnel.

The terrace fetched $971,000 under the hammer after slow bidding from two parties.