Falling auction clearance rates a sign boom may be over Is the property market slipping? There's a mountain of auctions this weekend and this makes sellers nervous. PT1M30S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3ksnb 620 349 November 20, 2014 The heady days of Sydney's runaway property boom look to be over, with numbers of buyers at open homes and auctions halving in recent weeks. Experts say the flood of listings in November has diluted the number of buyers searching for homes and kept a lid on prices growth. Not even reassuring words by the Reserve Bank Governor, Glenn Stevens, on Tuesday that interest rates were likely to stay low for some time yet would be enough to kick start the momentum again next year, they say. Flame out: Auction clearance rates have been falling for the past two weekends. Auction clearance rates have been falling for the past two weekends as a record number of houses and apartments are rushed to market before Christmas. Last Saturday's rate of 74.3 per cent was the lowest since July. This Saturday another 900 homes go under the hammer, with similar numbers for the past few weeks. Domain Group's senior economist, Dr Andrew Wilson, said while it was not unusual for properties to flood the market in November, two years of soaring prices coupled with a soft economy and flat wages growth had pushed buyers' affordability to its limits. "We're certainly seeing a waning of house price growth in Sydney," he said. There is no surge in activity in our economy that's pushing up real incomes to give us the capacity to keep bidding up house prices. He predicted that the slowdown in prices growth would continue next year even if there was a cut in interest rates. Nevertheless growth would still be healthy for home owners thinking of selling. They shouldn't be sneezing at 5 to 7 per cent growth following what's been 30 per cent growth over the past two years. In the past few weeks, agent Shaun Stoker of Ray White Surry Hills had seen half the number of bidders at auctions in Newtown, Erskineville and Alexandria, traditionally among the most popular areas for buyers in inner Sydney. While this weaker demand was not forcing down prices, few properties were achieving the stellar results of earlier in the year. "More stock is its having an impact on the number of buyers at each auction, which is having a bearing on the price," Mr Stoker said. Nevertheless some properties with broad appeal were still attracting huge interest. One such house in McDonald Street, Erskineville, being auctioning on Saturday would have up to 10 bidders, he said. Other agents also report buyers are still happy to pay top dollar for the right property. A house in Naremburn sold this week for $2.95 million, nearly $600,000 above the suburb record. Ewan Morton, of Morton and Morton, said his agents were actually experiencing a shortage of stock. "I know that sounds odd given newspaper reports have been trumpeting 700-plus auction weekends but it's not enough to meet demand," he said. Yet agents of some prestige homes are extending campaigns by one or two weeks to encourage more interest.