Auction volumes were again lower than predicted this week, but CoreLogic noted the preliminary clearance rate enjoyed a slight rise.
This week, 1426 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities, resulting in a preliminary success rate of 77.4 per cent.
This volume was less than the 1636 auctions predicted earlier in the week, with the downwards revision largely attributed to Melbourne’s extended lockdown, which only concluded just prior to the weekend.
However, CoreLogic also explained lower volumes had also been expected due to the majority of states and territories welcoming a long weekend due to with the Queen’s Birthday holiday on Monday.
The previous week saw 2668 homes taken to auction, while this time last year 1181 auctions were held across the combined capitals.
“Of the 1169 results collected so far, 77.4 per cent were successful, compared to 73.5 per cent over the previous week which revised down to a final clearance rate of 70.6 per cent,” CoreLogic said.
Melbourne
With confirmation of the Melbourne lockdown coming to an end late last week, 365 auctions were held across the city, revising down from the 519 originally scheduled.
Over the previous week, 1081 auctions were held, while this time last year, 471 homes were taken to auction across Melbourne.
Of the 307 results collected so far, 73 per cent were successful, increasing from the previous week when a preliminary clearance rate of 67.3 per cent was recorded. This revised down to 64 per cent at final figures.
Meanwhile, the withdrawal rate dropped week-on-week across the city with 18.2 per cent of the 307 results reported as withdrawn, compared to 31 per cent over the previous week.
Sydney
There were 749 homes taken to auction across Sydney this week, compared to 1164 last week and 545 this time last year.
There have been 634 auction results collected so far, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 78.5 per cent.
Last week’s preliminary clearance rate was a higher 79.6 per cent, which revised down to 75.6 per cent at final figures.
“Sydney’s final auction clearance rate has held above 75 per cent all year, and this week is likely to be no different, although the trend has clearly softened since late March when the auction clearance rate peaked at 87.6 per cent,” CoreLogic said.
The smaller capitals
Across the smaller capital cities, Adelaide recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 86 per cent, followed by Canberra where preliminary results show 82.5 per cent of auctions were successful.
Brisbane recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 75.5 per cent, while in Perth, 70 per cent of reported auctions were successful.
Domain results
Domain’s data indicated the preliminary clearance rate had dropped to 69.8 per cent this week on the back of lower volume, with 1413 properties taken to auction.
This puts this week’s preliminary success rate only 0.1 per cent higher than last week’s final clearance rate, but still well over two thirds of all properties in the major markets are continuing to sell at auction.
So far this week, results have been provided for 789 of those auctions, with 551 properties selling (to the value of $520.8 million), while 158 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, the final clearance rate settled at 69.7 per cent after 2699 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 2026 of those auctions, with 1412 properties selling (to the value of $1271.8 million), while 396 properties were withdrawn. That high withdrawal rate was largely due to an extended lockdown in Melbourne.
This time last year only 58.2 per cent of auctions were successful after 915 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 862 of those auctions, with 502 properties selling (to the value of $591.9 million), while 92 properties were withdrawn.
Melbourne
A long weekend after an extended lockdown saw Melbourne’s volume slump to 641 properties taken to auction, while the preliminary clearance rate also dropped to 62 per cent.
So far, results have been provided for only 234 of those auctions, with 145 properties selling (to the value of $110.7 million), while 70 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, Melbourne’s volume was more than double this week’s figures, with 1370 properties taken to auction and a final success rate of 63.6 per cent.
Results were provided for 841 of those auctions, with 535 properties selling (to the value of $379.1 million), while 281 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, only 398 properties were taken to auction in Melbourne and the clearance rate was 50.7 per cent.
Results were provided for 381 of those auctions, with 193 properties selling (to the value of $195.1 million) while 36 properties were withdrawn.
Sydney
Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate also dropped this week, coming in at 73.5 per cent after 578 properties were taken to auction.
So far, results have been provided for 415 of those auctions, with 305 properties selling (to the value of $331.3 million), while 69 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, Sydney’s final clearance rate settled at 72.7 per cent after 1049 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 961 of those auctions, with 699 properties selling (to the value of $770.7 million), while 101 properties were withdrawn.
In the same week last year, Sydney’s clearance rate was 65.1 per cent after 433 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 401 of those auctions, with 261 properties selling (to the value of $362.6 million), while 50 properties were withdrawn.
Ray White results
Despite the long weekend, Ray White’s internal data indicated their scheduled auction numbers were up 66 per cent year-on-year.
“These numbers translated into some outstanding outcomes as the Ray White Group booked a preliminary auction day clearance rate of 86.7 per cent, with Sydney coming in at 90 per cent, Melbourne at 94.1 per cent, and Brisbane at 84.6 per cent,” they reported.
New South Wales
Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said it was another exciting week for the property market across Sydney.
“We continue to see high clearance rates and strong bidder activity – even on a long weekend where you would expect it to be a touch quieter – we saw fierce bidding and strong competition across all our auctions,” Mr Pattaro said.
“Sellers are still obtaining record-breaking and incredible prices. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, we see the current market as a fantastic opportunity for both sides to transact.”
Victoria
With the real estate market again open for business, Ray White VIC/TAS CEO Stephen Dullens commented that agents wasted little time to get the market moving again.
“It is so pleasing to once again assist our customers across Melbourne, in a safe environment,” Mr Dullens said.
“We’ve seen significant interest from customers keen to inspect property for both sales and rentals.”
Ray White VIC/TAS Chief Auctioneer Matt Condon said there was no doubt that all eyes were on the Garden State to see how it would perform post-lockdown.
“This week saw significantly less auction volume, but the shortage of supply created more demand per property with an average increase in both registered and active bidders,” Mr Condon said.
“We saw a mixture of both on-site and online auctions with market conditions continuing to be conducive towards sellers achieving a premium price.”
South Australia
Ray White SA Chief Auctioneer John Morris said the temperatures might be cooling down across the state, but the auction action continued to heat up across the board.
“We have experienced incredible auction numbers yet again with massive gavel market share and Ray White flags flying state-wide,” Mr Morris said.
“We once again have a really high preliminary auction day clearance rate with registered bidder numbers also sitting at around nine per auction on average.
“I have to shout out to Nick Roma and Stefan Siciliano of Ray White Norwood as their property at 1 Wootten Street in Greenacres attracted a whopping 41 registered bidders – that’s certainly the highest number I’ve heard of in a long, long time.”
