Karen Collier From: Herald Sun April 30, 2012 12:00AM
MELBOURNE'S auction clearance rate remains steady at 60 per cent amid hopes an interest-rate cut will boost buyer confidence.
Inner-city, eastern and northeastern suburbs recorded the weekend's best clearance rates of up to 76 per cent, while sales in the southeast languished at 59 per cent.
Statewide, 520 properties went under the hammer.
More than half the 210 properties passed in were done so on vendors' bids.
A further 507 homes were sold privately.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said that if banks passed on an expected Reserve Bank interest rate cut this week, the market would be buoyed.
"Victoria's property market is nothing if not consistent at the moment," Mr Larocca said.
"It is a reflection of what is going on in the economy.
"People that need to sell are selling, but speculators are standing on the sidelines not confident about what is going to happen in the broader economy."
He said Melbourne's auction clearance rates had barely budged since the start of last year.
