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<b>REIV RESEARCH BULLETIN</b>
over 8 years ago
REIV RESEARCH BULLETIN

Following the Reserve Bank meeting in March 2018, the cash rate was left unchanged at 1.5 per cent, as it has been since August 2016. The 2018 auction season has started and there were 3,154 auctions held in February and 2,268 selling, a clearance rate of 71.9 per cent for the month. 

Victoria’s vacancy rate stands at 2.0 per cent in February 2018. The weekly median rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne remained at $450 in February. In regional Victoria, the weekly median rent for houses also remained stable, at $320 per week in February. The weekly median rent for units remained at $420 per week in metropolitan Melbourne while the median rent for units in regional Victoria fell to $240. 

In the four weeks to 11th March, the RMX rose by 13.0 per cent. This recovery is typical following the usual seasonal dip in January. House prices are up 3.1 per cent in the weeks leading to 11th March. For units, the index has risen by 8.9 per cent in the weeks leading to the 11th March and are now back to December 2017 levels. 

There were an estimated 9,868 house and unit sales transacted in Victoria in February 2018, and about 137,059 sales in the past 12 months. Based on these estimates, the share of auctions sold as a percentage of overall sales was 24.2 per cent in the 12 months to February 2017.