MELBOURNE'S property market has started 2010 with a bang, trading real estate worth a record $1 billion in the past week.
The value of properties sold surpassed the previous record $963 million, which was set in mid-December last year, despite 90 fewer houses being offered for auction.
Real estate worth more than $700 million was auctioned this week, in what was also the strongest opening month since records began seven years ago.
A reported 967 auctions this weekend produced a strong clearance rate of 87 per cent, in a month when the rate remained above 83 per cent. In February last year, the clearance rate failed to pass 77 per cent.
Craig Stevens of Jas H Stephens Real Estate reported a 13 per cent rise in property prices in the inner west, selling 6 Agnes Street, Yarraville, which was on the market at $700,000, for $807,000.
''The property market is just roaring along - what started as a grassfire is now a bushfire,'' he said.
Real estate agent Gary Peer reported a record selling price for a property in McKinnon, with 16 Clee Street selling for $2,176,000 after tough competition from five bidders.
Buxton Bentleigh's Craig Williamson said his firm set a record for a rear single-level, three-bedroom brick veneer house at 43A Leila Road, Ormond, selling for $910,000.
Buyer's advocate Peter Rogozik attended an auction at 153 Grandview Grove, Rosanna, where a two-level, semi-renovated home sold for $996,000, well above December's $670,000 median price for the suburb .
Alastair Craig of Jellis Craig noticed high demand for properties within walking distance of schools around Kew and Hawthorn.
''A little three-bedroom brick veneer home at 15 Johnson Street, Hawthorn sold for $1.211 million and that seems to be the minimum entry price for the area,'' he said. Buyers' advocate Catherine Cashmore said buyers had to be prepared to pay more.
She said a property at 6 Legon Road, Oakleigh South - which sold in 2006 for $428,000 - sold on Saturday for $715,000.
Noel Jones group chairman Adrian Jones said the firm sold a two-bedroom ex-housing commission property at 11 Jackson Street, Richmond, for $917,000, well above the $800,000 reserve.
Buyer advocate Michael Ramsay was at the auction of 1E Fulham Avenue, South Yarra, where in 2006 he bought one of a row of townhouses for $893,000. This weekend, one of the townhouses sold for $1.6 million.
? Real estate worth more than $700 million was auctioned this week.
? In comparison, during February last year, the clearance rate failed to pass 77 per cent.
? A reported 967 auctions this weekend produced a strong clearance rate of 87 per cent.
