The housing market may be riding for a fall, but it's going strong right now and there's no shortage of people predicting more of the same.
Australian Property Monitors tabulated auction activity for the four largest state capitals over the past week and found higher auction clearance rates than a year before.
For Sydney, the proportion of homes sold after being put up for auction was 84 per cent, from 61 per cent in the same week last year, with the clearance rate for Melbourne was 76 per cent, versus 67 per cent.
The Brisbane, the clearance rate was 58 per cent, compared with 44 per cent.
In Adelaide, 78 per cent of reported auctions resulted in a sale, up 37 per cent although APM warned that the number was unreliable due to the small number of results collected.
The APM figures show clearance rate for all four capitals combined was 78 per cent, up from 59 per cent a year ago.
Not surprisingly, the strength of demand helps the case for further prices rises.
Janu Chan, economist at St George bank, expects dwelling prices to rise by five to eight per cent nationally this year.
"Sydney is expected to continue to outperform other capital cities, but improved affordability across the country points to more broad-based gains, she said in a report on Monday.
After adjusting for inflation in the price of goods and services, gains in housing prices in Australia "do not seem excessive on historical and international comparisons", she said.
"In our opinion, worries about a growing housing bubble are overdone."
Over the long haul, she said, dwelling prices should rise in step with household incomes, but there are cyclical factors pointing to stronger growth in that over the near term.
"Low interest rates, solid population growth and housing shortages in some states will support further growth in dwelling prices this year," Ms Chan said.
ANZ property analysts David Cannington and Paul Braddick were also upbeat.
Responding to RP Data figures showing annual prices rises across Australia averaged just over 10 per cent for the week ending February 9, they said most capital city prices have "consolidated" strong gains racked up over the second half of 2013.
The exception was Melbourne, where prices put on another two per cent over the past month.
But things looked bright for home-owners, if not for hopeful buyers.
"Following a subdued start to 2014, we expect housing market momentum to remain positive in 2014, buoyed by improved household confidence and an extended period of low interest rates," they said.
The RP Data figures showed a familiar spread of annual price gains, from 2.5 per cent in Adelaide and 3.9 per cent for Brisbane, up to 7.9 per cent in Perth, 11.5 per cent in Melbourne and, leading the pack as usual, 14.3 per cent in Sydney.
