By Scott Murdoch and Christine Chen
SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) - Just a short stroll from Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, auctioneer Clarence White struggles to drum up bids for an airy three-storey home that boasts five bedrooms and an al fresco lounge - price tag, A$5.2 million ($3.64 million).
"We know everyone's cagey at the moment, but that's okay ... all power to those who are registered and those who take action," the veteran auctioneer tells a small group of prospective buyers and onlookers, none of whom bids.
Failed auctions like this were once the exception in Sydney's red-hot property market. Now, clearance rates across the country have plunged, squeezed by an end to property investment tax breaks.
The policy shift unveiled last month is the biggest in decades and seen by some as ending Australia's obsession with property, for generations the primary way to build wealth, making Sydney and Melbourne among the world's least affordable markets.
SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) - Just a short stroll from Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, auctioneer Clarence White struggles to drum up bids for an airy three-storey home that boasts five bedrooms and an al fresco lounge - price tag, A$5.2 million ($3.64 million).
"We know everyone's cagey at the moment, but that's okay ... all power to those who are registered and those who take action," the veteran auctioneer tells a small group of prospective buyers and onlookers, none of whom bids.
Failed auctions like this were once the exception in Sydney's red-hot property market. Now, clearance rates across the country have plunged, squeezed by an end to property investment tax breaks.
The policy shift unveiled last month is the biggest in decades and seen by some as ending Australia's obsession with property, for generations the primary way to build wealth, making Sydney and Melbourne among the world's least affordable markets.
1 month ago
