Sellers discount homes and accept pre-auction sales as Christmas property 'deadline' approaches

Vendor discounting has reached more than 6 per cent in some Canberra districts, taking nearly $60,000 off the median house value, CoreLogic data shows.

Property experts and industry figures said interest rate rises and softening market conditions were forcing sellers to adjust their prices and meet the market's expectations.

The looming Christmas "deadline" was also having an impact, buyers and sellers aiming to settle before December 25.

Property data firm CoreLogic measures vendor discounts by calculating the difference between a property's initial listing price and the final sale amount.

Across the capital, the median vendor discount was 4.3 per cent for the 12 months to October, compared to 2.7 per cent for the same period last year.

North Canberra saw the biggest price cuts on houses - a median discount of 6.5 per cent - compared to a 2.9 per cent discount last year.

Woden Valley houses saw a median vendor discount of 6.2 per cent, followed by Belconnen with a median 4.7 per cent price drop.

CoreLogic head of Australian research Eliza Owen said Canberra sellers were having to "come to the table" on price.

"A lot of that has to do with the rapidly changing financial conditions that we're seeing," she said.

Seven consecutive increases to the cash rate have constrained some buyers' budgets, while a "relatively healthy" spring selling season was contributing to the level of discounting, Ms Owen said.

"That dynamic of relatively steady supply levels and a falling away in demand simply means sellers aren't going to be getting the same price," she said.

Canberra units haven't seen the same level of price reductions.

The median vendor discount across Canberra units was 2.7 per cent for the 12 months to October, compared to 2 per cent last year.

A 2.7 per cent discount would equate to about $16,400 off the median value of a Canberra unit.

The biggest discounts on units were found in north Canberra (down 3.1 per cent), followed by Gungahlin, Molonglo and south Canberra (down 2.8 per cent).

At the time of publishing, there were about 1300 houses for sale in Canberra and about 925 units, Ms Owen said.

"There's a little more restriction of supply in the unit segment, which could be helping to insulate the downturn and keep some of that discounting relatively steady," she said.

Buyers' agent Claire Corby of Capital Buyers Agency said sellers often viewed Christmas as a deadline to have the sale of their home "neatly tied away" before holidays started.

"There's a great opportunity there for buyers to realise this and maybe push a little bit harder at the negotiating table," she said.

"I think some of the best buying could be done in December," she said.

Ms Corby had seen an uptick in price reductions in the past few weeks, as well as agents seeking pre-auction offers.

Pre-auction deals did not always mean a discount, she warned.

"Sometimes it can actually work in buyers' favour to let it go to auction, not get quite the result that the vendor was hoping for - and you have that open transparency of an auction to see that - and then you can negotiate favourable terms," she said.

In Nicholls, $46,000 had been taken off the price guide for a three-bedroom home. The property, 7 Rosella Street, was now accepting offers above $949,000.

The home sits on a leafy, 423-square-metre block with direct access to the 15th hole of the Gungahlin Lakes Golf Course.

Selling agent Justin Taylor of Marq Property said sellers who could "meet the market" could secure a strong sale result.

"With all the talk in the media and seven months in a row of interest rate rises, vendors are a lot more accepting that prices are not where they were eight months ago," he said.

"If vendors are prepared to meet the current market there is definitely plenty of interest and they'll have no problem selling."

An extended and updated four-bedroom house at 9 Allan Place, Curtin recently had a $50,000 price reduction. Expectations started above $1,525,000 and have been reduced to $1,475,000.

Meanwhile, a four-bedroom house at 93 Stuart Street, Narrabundah was previously accepting offers over $1,749,000 but was now listed for $1,695,000.

Ms Owen said further rate rises could see vendor discounts deepen.

"Unless there's a shift in vendor attitudes when they're initially listing, that's when we could start to see vendors accepting that it's a softer market and pitching their property for a lower listing price in the first place," she said.

"But I think as long as interest rates are continuing to rise and the market continues to change, we'll still get a deepening of the vendor discounting rate."

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That being said, there was no denying Canberra's property market remained competitive.

Auction clearance rates sat at about 70 per cent in October.

Meanwhile, suburb records continued to be broken.

Canberra's house price record was broken with a $9 million sale just last month, while earlier this week a sale in Yarralumla set a suburb benchmark of $6.4 million.

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