00:02In the normally busy spring auction period, another sign that market confidence is going, going gone.
00:08This is when we see listing volumes really pick up.
00:11This year's totally different. We're in a different world, different landscape and volumes have taken a big dive.
00:17Around the country, the number of homes under the hammer has been sluggish for months
00:22as rising interest rates and changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax bite.
00:27And Melbourne leads the decline.
00:28The last time we saw a level of that at this time of year was all the way back in
00:33the pandemic.
00:34Just 500 homes were put up for auction last week, a 29% drop in volume week on week,
00:40more of a cliff when compared to the year on year figure.
00:43It coincided with new laws requiring vendors to publish their reserve prices
00:48in a bid to save home buyers losing time and money on properties they can't actually afford.
00:53Particularly young buyers, first home buyers that often have their hearts broken
00:57when they think they're in the game to buy the house but the reserve price wasn't what they expected.
01:03While clearance rates lifted slightly, it's too early to tell if that shows the laws working as intended.
01:09I think we probably need to see a consistent pick up in the clearance rate just to get a better
01:14handle on what's actually happening.
01:16Melbourne's property market had already been cooling for some time.
01:19It's hard to say whether the weekend slump was driven more by the new disclosure laws
01:24or by property investors facing diminishing returns who've decided not to sell.
01:28With any big change, it can take a little time to settle.
01:31With even fewer properties listed for auction this week,
01:34there will be time to ponder that question in the period to come.
01:38Going to assume,
