The number of auctions in Melbourne, Sydney, jumped 500 this week from last week, but there was no cooling-off in the two cities' auctions
Sydney's vacancy rate, according to Corelogic, reached 81.9%, up from 79.6% last week. Melbourne is 76.9 this week, down slightly from 79.4% last week.
The figures for the Domain Group are similar, with 79% in Sydney and 78% in Melbourne
Even though the number of auctions in all capital cities this week hit the second highest in 2016, all the city auctions were up sharply from the same period last year.
In the same period last year, 1306 houses were auctioned in Sydney, up from 1236 this year. There were 1876 auctions in Melbourne last year and 1618 this year.
A combination of lower-than-average real estate listings and endless demand from low interest rates has ignited the real estate market
"it's totally against the logic," said a buyer's agent in Melbourne. "We can't buy a house at this vacancy rate."
"if APRA doesn't do anything, we'll become a country like Europe, where all the real estate is owned by the rich, and Australia's goverment needs to take a good look."
His clients are desperate to find a house in Melbourne. They don't want to wait until March to buy a house because house prices have been rising. Even Melbourne beach houses are on the rise.
About two-thirds of the houses in Sydney and Melbourne were bought before the auction, indicating that anxious buyers wanted to seize every opportunity
Prices in Melbourne are expected to rise 1% in November, while Sydney is up 0.6%, according to Corelogic.
