March can be unpredictable after the slow burn of summer, but this year it was full of energy. We saw robust numbers in terms of listings, buyer activity, sales and auctions.

One particular weekend we booked 35 auctions – a record number for the BresicWhitney group. And that weekend finished with a clearance rate of 72%

A surge of listings meant we saw around 9 groups through each open home, down from around 18 at the start of the year.

At the same time, a demand for quality/luxury saw the average selling price trend upwards. Meanwhile, even with a flood of stock reducing buyer numbers, days-on-market figures dropped. They’ve reduced in quantity, but increased in quality.

A decent chunk of this buyer pool seems to be owner-occupiers. With vendors aware of the changing market and adjusting their expectations accordingly, many transactions are happening seamlessly once more.

We even saw resurgence in the off-market channel leading into the holiday, finishing with 101 sales for March.

The BresicWhitney clearance rate sits at 75%, compared to the wider Sydney figure of 67%.

Sales were concentrated on Surry Hills, Redfern and Darlinghurst, and those high-end sales were spread from Paddington to Gladesville.

In the rental spere, May 2017 saw the Federal Government announce a number of measures focused on housing affordability. One action was to restrict the main residence Capital Gains Tax exemption to current tax residents.

With a transition period ending 30 June 2019, you can still sell CGT free until then, providing you owned your property on May 9, 2017. But beyond June 2019, you must be resident in Australia to benefit from the main residence CGT exemption. For our overseas people, it may be worth investigating how this affects you.