Auction watch: Low clearance rate in Canberra as federal election looms

A federal election may have impacted on Canberra’s auction market this weekend.

The ACT recorded a clearance rate of just 45 per cent on Saturday, according to Australian Property Monitors, after close to 40 homes went under the hammer.

More than 70 properties were listed for auction a week earlier, and 61.5 per cent were sold.

Despite Saturday’s low clearance rate, two homes sold for more than $1 million.

One of these was a five-bedroom house at 54 Endeavour Street in Red Hill, which attracted five registered bidders and a crowd of about 30 people.

Four registered parties tussled for the property from an opening bid of $1.26 million.

Nearly 50 bids were placed before the house eventually sold for $1,721,000 to a local couple, following a tight bidding war between the two remaining parties.

Ray White Kingston agent Cory McPherson said about 90 people inspected the property, which sits on an elevated parcel of land and includes a large terrace with views across Canberra.

“That pocket of Red Hill is really sought after, close to schools and has bigger blocks,” he said.

Mr McPherson said the federal election, Treasurer Scott Morrison’s first federal budget and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to cut interest rates to an all-time low of 1.75 per cent had not affected recent buyer activity in the inner south.

Interest rates were more likely to affect first home buyers, he said.

“At the end of the day, life goes on for everyone,” he said. “In that sort of price bracket, I don’t see interest rates affecting the market day in, day out.

“Really, what is driving the market at the moment is people looking for quality homes.

“A lot of buyers have been renting, including the buyers today. There is a shortage of supply out there at the moment but plenty of people are interested in buying.”

McGrath Dickson agent Nigel Wilson said it was difficult to gauge the impact of federal politics on the market, particularly in the inner south, but believed the interest rate cut contributed to “fantastic” conditions for sellers.

One of Mr Wilson’s properties, a four-bedroom house at 5 Woolls Street in Yarralumla, also cracked the million-dollar mark on Saturday, selling for $1,680,000 under the hammer.

He said demand for quality houses outstripped supply, and 400-odd former Mr Fluffy homeowners were yet to buy a new property.

“There’s almost half the number of properties available than there was about 12 months ago,” he said.