Next year's housing market is headed for a healthy start after the 2016 selling season closed strongly over the weekend.
With only a trickle of auctions to come in the final week before Christmas, the final weekend of the season posted robust results even as activity eased from the selling surge of the previous four weeks.
Nationally, the clearance rate fell only slightly to 70.5 per cent, down from last week's 71.6 per cent.
The number of properties taken to auction had tapered, with 2722 reported auctions down from 3432 last week which was the second busiest auction week this year on CoreLogic figures.
Even so, it was a big week for Melbourne, with a preliminary clearance rate of 75.7 per cent from 1286 auctions, down from last week's seasonal high of 1685.
There was plenty of activity in Sydney as well, where 74.1 per cent of homes sold across 874 auctions, down from last week's 1168.
"It's been a strong end to the season for both Sydney and Melbourne," said SQM Research analyst Louis Christopher.
"We think the markets are still advancing. I see at this point a likely strong start to the new year when the market gets going again after Australia Day."
SQM Research is tipping house price growth in Sydney of between 11 per cent to 16 per cent in 2017. In Melbourne, the forecast is for price rises of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent.
Potential factors that could put a brake on that predicted growth include rising lending rates, with several big lenders already cranking up rates on fixed term loans.
Funding costs are rising internationally in the wake of the "Trump effect" and the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates this month.
Another 'X factor' for house prices is the strength of the broader economy which has slowed below 2 per cent for the first time since the global financial crisis."If we are going to have soft growth next year that could weigh on the market somewhat," Mr Christopher said.
Sydney prices have already gained 13.1 per cent in the past 12 months, on CoreLogic figures. Melbourne prices have increased 11.3 per cent over that period, offset a little by falling apartment values.
Buyers are bidding hard for trophy properties. On Sydney's North Shore, the five-bedroom home at 2A Pibrac Avenue in Warrawee was sold for $4.6 million.
Set on a sprawling 1571-square-metre block, it was the most expensive home sold at auction in Sydney over the week.
In Melbourne, a five-bedroom brick Edwardian at 24 Alexandra Avenue in Canterbury's "golden mile" sold for $4,012,000.
Two bidders battled it out for the most expensive Melbourne home sold on the weekend after it went on the market at $3.8 million.
"The market around that 'golden mile' is just exploding at the moment," said Marshall White selling agent Desiree Wakim.
