Illawarra Monday Market Pulse | Week Ending 15 June 2026

The national clearance rate closed last Week at 49.8%. The same fortnight, a property in Bulli attracted 16 registered bidders and sold for $2.9 million. Both numbers are real. Only one is useful if you're in the Northern Illawarra.

Bulli has around 22 active listings right now. For a suburb wedged between the escarpment and the ocean - drawing Sydney downsizers, committed lifestyle buyers, and the kind of people who have decided that proximity to the water is simply non-negotiable - that's limited supply. Not Dapto-in-January tight, but meaningfully limited for the calibre of buyer this suburb consistently attracts.

Here's what three consecutive RBA rate rises have actually done in this coastal pocket. They've got the buyers who were stretching. The speculative activity that inflated late-2025 inquiry has dried up. Investor optimism faded when rates reversed. What remains is genuine demand - people with finance confirmed at 4.35%, a clear ceiling price, and the decision already made to build the life they're building. When that group competes for 22 properties, the arithmetic stays tight regardless of what the national clearance data looks like.

The RBA meets tomorrow. Consensus is a hold at 4.35%. If it lands as expected, the next moveisn'tt an immediate price move. It's a sentimental move. Buyers who have been sitting on ready pre-approvals, waiting for a signal that the rate cycle has peaked, tend to get active quickly. Watch for inquiry and offer volume to lift in the back half of June.

For buyers already in position, moving before that signal lands is the better play. You're negotiating with sellers who haven't yet priced in an 'all clear' - and that's the best version of this conversation to be having.

THE NUMBERS

• NSW clearance rate: 62.0% - Week ending 13 June, well below 73.7% recorded the same Week last year

• National clearance rate: 49.8% - 12-month low, reflecting the cumulative weight of three RBA rate rises

• Bulli active listings: ~22 - tight supply for a coastal suburb at this buyer profile and price point

THE ONE ACTION

If you have pre-approval and the Bulli-to-Austinmer coastal corridor is your target, lock in three or four inspections before the RBA announcement tomorrow afternoon. If they hold, sentiment shifts within days, and inquiries pick up fast. Buyers already inside the gates have cleaner conversations - and fewer people at their backs.