Auction Volumes Across the Combined Capital Cities Rise Above 2,000 for the First Time This Year

Auction Volumes Across the Combined Capital Cities Rise

There were 2,303 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities over the week, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 54.1 per cent, while last week, auction volumes were lower with 1,450 auctions held and a 51.2 per cent clearance rate. Over the same week last year, 3,313 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 66.8 per cent was recorded.

Last week’s final clearance rate marked the second week in a row where the final clearance rate held above 50 per cent, an improvement given the weekly auction clearance rate sat at or below 42 per cent for 5 consecutive weeks in November/December 2018. It will be interesting to see how clearance rates hold up now that auction volumes have started to pick up. The seasonal pattern over previous years has seen a similar bounce back in the auction clearance rate in February through to mid-to-late March before trending lower into autumn and winter. Considering advertised stock levels remain high and most other indicators are soft, it’s possible a similar weakening trend in auction markets will become evident next month.

There were 1,144 auctions held in Melbourne this week with preliminary results showing a clearance rate of 53.1 per cent, increasing from last week when the final clearance rate was recorded at 52.5 per cent across 657 auctions. Over the same week last year, the auction clearance rate was significantly higher with 70.6 per cent of the 1,606 auctions returning a successful result.

Sydney was host to 795 auctions this week with preliminary results showing a 58.6 per cent clearance rate, up from 54.6 per cent across 523 auctions last week. Over the same week last year 1,259 homes were taken to auction across the city returning a clearance rate of 65.1 per cent.

Across the smaller auction markets, Brisbane and Canberra were the only cities to see a rise in clearance rates week-on-week, while auction volumes increased everywhere except Perth and Tasmania over the week.

The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects 90% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.

Source: RP Data