Housing sizzles towards a Christmas rush With a little help from mum and dad National Domain Editor Stephen Nicholls meets the 23-year old buyer of this million-dollar terrace. PT1M50S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2w8cc 620 349 October 26, 2013 The weekend's bumper auction result will set the tempo for the remainder of this year, amid concerns that Australia's housing market is at risk of overheating. First-home buyer Claudia Crause, 23, a student at the University of NSW, paid more than $1 million for a two-bedroom terrace in Sydney's Surry Hills as Melbourne's auction market faced its biggest weekend on record with 1438 homes going under the hammer. Like many young first-time buyers today, Ms Crause had help from her parents, Ron and Theresa. A similar frenzy of activity is expected over coming weeks as vendors try to take advantage of the rising market and buyers compete for more properties. At least one more Super Saturday with 1000 auctions is predicted for November 30, although a rush of sellers taking advantage of stronger conditions could see other weekends top that benchmark by mid-December. "Given that a marketing campaign takes around five to six weeks, that leaves the next fortnight or so for vendors to decide whether they want to sell their home before Christmas," said top-end buyer's advocate Mal James. Buyers seem to be very aware that the clock is ticking, and there is definitely a sense of anxiety in the air with people wanting to find something before Christmas. Clearance rates are holding up and homes are selling above their asking prices. In a sign of boom times, Sydney's clearance rate continues to defy gravity, having remained above 80 per cent for weeks, according to figures from Australian Property Monitors. Melbourne's clearance rate is also strong. This week it was 74 per cent, figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria show. Capital city home values across the country have risen 7.9 per cent over the year but Sydney's are outstripping others', rising 12.5 per cent over the year to date, figures from RP Data show. SQM managing director Louis Christopher said that while there was always a risk the market could overheat, Sydney had "some runway left" to handle price growth. "I think the market is expensive but it is nowhere near as expensive as it had been in 2003, in terms of the price to income ratio," he said. We're estimating there will be 10-15 per cent price growth next year and even then it still won't reach the level it got to in 2003. Melbourne home values have risen 7.7 per cent this year, with much of that growth in the run up to and during the spring selling season. The REIV had predicted Melbourne's median house price could break the $600,000 mark by the end of the year. Rising prices and strong demand may be good news for home owners but they are raising red flags for first home buyers. The number of first timers climbing on the property ladder has been declining as the market "improves" and prices rise, even with the low mortgage lending rates.