The $1 billion barrier was broken during a record weekend for auction prices in Melbourne combined with soaring prices achieved for private sales during the week.

Across Australia, auction clearance rates in Sydney reached 75.3 per cent at the weekend, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous week, while Adelaide clearances were up 18.6 percentage points to 76.5 per cent.

Australian Property Monitors reports that total weekend auction revenue for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide was up $146 million on the same time last year.

The top-priced sale was a three-bedroom home in Melbourne's Toorak, which sold for $4.7m.

Experts predict there is no end in sight with property prices headed even higher, even on the back of interest rate rises.

Experts are tipping an official interest rate rise tomorrow when the Reserve Bank holds its monthly board meeting in Sydney tomorrow.

The central bank surprised most experts last month when it maintained the official cash rate at 3.75 per cent following an aggressive bout of monetary tightening at the end of 2009.

President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, David Airey, said the increases in sale prices and total properties listed reflected the "surging confidence" in the housing sector.

Mr Airey said that after the financial crisis, Australians were more interested in investing in property than on the stockmarket.

"This latest data shows buyer confidence in the sector, and particularly the auction system, has significantly increased clearance rates under the hammer," Mr Airey said.

"In every capital we've got strong sales and that says that the buyers - despite the likelihood of higher interest rates - are still wanting to invest in property.

"Australians have taken the lessons learned through the economic downturn and have decided this time round to put their money in property . . . it's encouraging and it's good news for buyers and sellers alike."

Enzo Raimondo, chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, said price and not the number of properties on the market was driving the $1 billion-a-week mark in Melbourne.

"We have never reached a billion-dollar figure in a week, especially coming off a very quite period," he said.

"The significance is that if it starts off like this it could be an indication the residential property market in Melbourne probably will be the same as in 2007 when we had some double-digit price growth."

There were close to 900 auctions with an 86 per cent clearance rate at the weekend, and 713 private sales in the past week.

"It's a moderate number of properties and it's not the highest auction weekend for numbers. It's purely price that has driven this billion-dollar figure," Mr Raimondo said.

Tim Fletcher, of Fletchers Real Estate, said it was possible that the median price of a home in Melbourne would hit $650,000 in a few months and $1 million within six years.

"We have too many buyers chasing too few properties, and unless something drastic is done about urban consolidation and freeing up more land on the fringes it's only going to get worse," he said.

Catherine Cashmore of JPP Buyers Advocates said the $1 billion boom was causing despair among buyers trying to get into the market.

"I have never come across such high anxiety in buyers. It's playing on buyers' minds because they are only seeing the property boom and they despair that they'll never be able to afford a home," she said.

Source: news.com.au