Twenty percent of Newcastle sales are coming from Sydney buyers, says John Church, head of marketing and licenced agent with PRDnationwide Newcastle. The rate is considerably higher than average, he told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS.

"We've seen a steady number of buyers from Sydney," he said.

Church said many families, especially those with a connection to Newcastle, leave in the regional city in their 20s, but when they have children affordability and lifestyle factors are luring them back to Newcastle.

Last week a home at 91 Macquarie Street, Mayfield, sold for $580,000 through Mathew Iuliano of PRDnationwide Newcastle. The attractive weatherboard home has three bedrooms and a garden, making it an ideal family home.

Families are buying within 10 to 15 kilometres of the CBD, said Church. Suburbs such as Mayfield, Charlestown, Kahibah, and Warners Bay all popular with families, he said.

PRD's First Half 2017 Factsheet shows house prices rose 8.5 per cent in the 12 months to March 2017. Apartment prices rose a whopping 16.7 per cent for the same period.

Newcastle is seeing a surge in apartment construction, said Church, with council and state government investment in transport infrastructure and a raising of height limits sparking an apartment-building boom.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of apartments have been sold off the plan," said Church.

Source: PRDnationwide Newcastle.

Sydney auction market

The Sydney market "is in a holding pattern", John Cunningham, president of the REINSW, told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS. Results have been fluctuating up and down marginally each week for the past two months," he said. 

The Sydney market recorded a clearance rate of 71.1 per cent last week, up from a final result of 65.4 per cent the previous week, the lowest rate for the year, says CoreLogic.

Cunningham said the Sydney market is showing huge degrees of variation. 

"The Sydney region appears to be broken into distinct areas of varied success with consistently high results happening in the north, east and inner west with clearance rates regularity over 80 per cent even though the number of active bidders has been reported to be down around 50 per cent on the same time last year.

Cunningham said auction strategies need to be adapted to changing market conditions.

"It is clear that the specialized nature of an auction strategy requires both agents and auctioneers to realize that as the market changes and buyer behaviors change they need to be fully trained on how to respond appropriately. An auction strategy in a booming market is very different to one in a normal market."

Melbourne auction market

In Melbourne, REIV President Joseph Walton told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS that REIV data shows a preliminary clearance rate of 77 per cent was recorded.

“This weekend’s auction market is likely to be the strongest start to August on record," said Walton. 

“The city’s north experienced a high level of auction activity this weekend with clearance rates of at least 90 per cent recorded in Mill Park, Craigieburn and Reservoir," he said.
 
“City of Glen Eira was the top performing municipality this weekend in terms of both volumes and sales with 47 auctions held and 38 sales under the hammer.”

Read more about property markets around the country:

Melbourne family homes have the fastest growing prices in the country

Melbourne market is still very active at the high end: Chris Savvides, Jellis Craig Doncaster

Auction market cooling, but still hot when the right property comes along