Real estate auction increase predicted

Potential buyers of real estate in Rowville may want to start thinking about entering the market as the auction scene picks up over the coming weeks.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) is predicting that there will be a number of busy weekends before Labour Day, with 970 expected for the final weekend in February, while 940 are expected for the first weekend in March.

The market is already picking up, with 220 properties predicted to go under the hammer over the next two days (February 8 and 9), as opposed to just 113 auctions for last weekend (February 1 and 2).

Those two days produced a clearance rate of 69 per cent.

But it appears that this year is going to be more buoyant than previous ones, as the same weekend from last year produced a success rate of 54 per cent from 127 attempts, while 2011 produced a clearance rate of 56 per cent from 189 auctions.

The REIV is confident for the coming year but is waiting on more data to confirm.

The institute said: "Whilst the forward projection of auction volumes suggests the market is continuing to slowly improve, this will not be clear until the REIV has the results from the 1,770 auctions scheduled for February."