There has been a dramatic slump in the sale of houses over the weekend. It has raised alarm bell all over the realty market. The ACT Real Estate Institute (REI) has said not to be alarmed as it could be one-off event. The alarm was raised mainly due to the fact that the twenty one houses at auction in Canberra which also included the primary stand alone houses on the Kinston Foreshore Waterfront did not sell. Many believe including Michael Wellsmore, president of REI that this event alone cannot be an indicator of a lasting trend. During auction such incidence are quite normal. The market sometimes moves up or down. Most of the time the market comes back to normal within a short period. LJ Hooker spokesperson for Mario Sanfrancesco says that in a volatile market the consumer shows much restrain in investing in new houses. This could also be one of the reasons why there is such a slump in the market today. All the unconstructiveness in the housing market is the reason why home buyers are treading with caution. They want to be very sure the real strength of the market before buying a house.

The incident of the weekend need not be taken as a slow down in the market. The situation in Canberra is quite different from all the other part of Australia. Even though the place is very close to Sydney, the lifestyle is here is quite different. The labour force here is very strong as compared to the other parts. In such a situation the market will uphold for longer and in a much different situation than other markets in times of volatility. It can be seen that the house markets are in Canberra are reacting in a much diverse way than in other parts of the country. Many hoped that the rate cut son Tuesday would bring the buyers back into the market but clearance rate fell below sixty percent.

People are waiting to see if the reserve bank will bring down the official interest rate. If the interest rates are cut maybe there is a chance that people could be a little forthcoming. If the trend continues many of the real estate agents will be out of job. The data shows that sales have dropped by almost twenty per cent over the last one year. Only Eleven thousand one hundred and thirty two houses were sold in Melbourne in 2008, as compared to Thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety one in 2007. Chief executive officer of Residex Ltd., John Edward says that Australia is facing one in a hundred year real estate slump. All the negatives seem to be converging to bring it down.