Fabian Sanelli

You're 100% right, and that seems to be the common theme at the moment, whether auctions are still going to be more beneficial than private treaty or private sales, as we more commonly say down here.

So I think there's a lot of stats to point in the direction that auctions are starting to regain the confidence that they rightfully deserve, especially heading into that spring market.

Okay, well, getting the negative out of the way, because the stats that I'm going to give you, I feel are very, very positive.

We had only 558 properties scheduled last weekend for auction in Melbourne.

So that is probably a negative in terms of volume.

It's clear that discretionary sellers are not putting their property on the market in this market.

However, Craig, buyers are still out there.

Despite the rising interest rates, Melbourne reported a preliminary auction clearance rate of 65.7%.

Now, that is stronger than last weekend's 62.1%.

It's actually a significant jump, so it's clear that buyers are now getting used to this new market.

I would even go as far as saying that we've seen the correction.

Another positive is that

Only 43 properties were withdrawn from sale last weekend, significantly less than over the last few months.

Now, if we take a look at the housing market, there's a big sign of resilience here.

Realestate.com.au reported that there were 915 private sales in Victoria over the last week.

less than 1,030 in the previous week.

Now that means, Craig, that sellers are starting to regain confidence in auctions and we should see those private sale numbers continue to decline now heading into spring.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, sellers are now in that mind frame where, as I mentioned before, 558 homes went under the hammer last weekend.

It's