The last time auction clearance rate was lower was in July 2004, with one weekend recording 47.6 per cent of successful sales. In comparison, on December 1 last year, the clearance rate was 78 per cent, with 952 properties generating sales worth $502.18 million.
From the category archives:
Victoria
Armstrong Creek housing fast-tracked
“The Brumby Government should have acted more quickly and released land in Geelong during an economic boom, not at the start of an economic slowdown,” Opposition planning spokesman Matthew Guy said.
The council, Barwon Water and the State Government must now resolve the thorny issue of how to get water into the development. Geelong council has been pushing for local recycled water plants on site while the Government has been pushing to see more desalinated water used from its planned Wonthaggi desalination plant.
Safe port in a crisis
Brad Hollingsworth, from First National Real Estate, said property had always represented a strong investment opportunity, but never more so than in tough economic conditions.
Back-to-back wins Philip Webb Real Estate has been named Residential Agency of the Year at the REIV Awards for Excellence for the second year running. Philip Webb Real Estate and Jellis Craig could not be split by judges who awarded both companies the coveted award.
Analysis of median priced detached housing according to size and location
This analysis reveals that three-bedroom houses in the inner-city recorded the highest demand, with a median price of 5.6 per cent: from $765,500 to $808,000, compared with a 3.3 per cent drop in Melbourne’s metropolitan median.
Melbourne home buyers go to western suburbs
New figures show property sales of existing two-, three- and four-bedroom homes in the west have dominated the top-10 performing Melbourne regions.
It is the first time the results — of median prices according to the number of bedrooms and geographic region — have been collated and released by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
Keen buyers keep home prices stable in Moonee Valley
Nelson Alexander sales manager Milo Rasinac said the effects of the current financial environment were not being felt by Moonee Valley’s property market because of a shortage of available properties.
Push for universal housing
Disability Action Southeast (DAS) has joined a call for “universally accessible housing” to combat everyday problems faced by people with a disability. Facilitator Katrina Newman said a DAS survey asked people with a disability what problems they faced accessing houses, to gather empirical and anecdotal evidence.
leader-news.whereilive.com.au
Buyers keep to market’s lower end
An eight-year-old brick veneer townhouse at 321 Young Street, Fitzroy, attracted three buyers and sold for $551,000, up from $430,000 in the three years the vendor had held the property.
Auction date: 12:30PM, Saturday November 15, 2008
134 Curzon Street North Melbourne
134 Curzon Street North Melbourne
With a North side wall allowing light and views to most rooms this terrace shines were most don’t. Rich in Victorian detail and superbly positioned within easy strike of Errol St, Vic Market CBD and all this close proximity has to offer. 3 Bedrooms and a study/dining, sep lounge, kitchen/ meals and a pretty courtyard garden with room to park the car. A fantastic investment or ideal home in one of inner Melbourne’s most desirable suburbs.
They come, look and leave as buyers beware
Drive north of Melbourne, past Melbourne Airport, past takeaway shops and sheep grazing on yellow pastures, and you’ll eventually come to the sprawling Highlands estate, in Craigieburn, and a sign that reads “Life starts here”. 
But for many developers such as Stockland, the owner of Highlands estate, there are few signs of “life” in the market. Indeed, after an acute downturn in the listed property sector, and faced with a pressing need to pay down its swollen corporate debt, Stockland is reportedly eager to sell a large, 1000-lot parcel of land on the western side of its main Craigieburn estate, rather than risk of selling it block by block to home buyers.
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