INDUSTRY NEWSNationalNEWS

Clearance rate slips below 70 per cent as volume continues to surge

Auction volumes couldn’t quite equal the record highs of last week, but still this week proved the second busiest auction week ever, with 4136 properties going under the hammer across the major capitals.

Volume was down slightly on last week when 4251 auctions were held, and the consistent high number of auctions saw this week’s preliminary clearance rate slip to 69.9 per cent.

This could dip further once final results are collected. Last week the preliminary clearance rate was 71.4 per cent but revised down to 68.5 per cent at final figures.  

This time last year, 2085 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities.

Over the same week last year, 69.9 per cent of reported auctions were successful across the combined capital cities.

Melbourne

There were 1889 homes taken to auction in Melbourne this week. While this was the third busiest week for auctions this year it was down on last week when 1910 homes were taken to auction.

Of the 1558 results collected so far, 69.4 per cent were successful. This is higher than the previous week when a preliminary clearance rate of 68.5 per cent was recorded.

This later revised down to 66.3 per cent at final figures.

This time last year, auction volumes were significantly lower, with only 899 properties going under the hammer.

Of those, 67.7 per cent of reported auctions were successful.

Sydney

This week was the second busiest auction week for Sydney so far this year, with 1467 homes taken to auction across the city.

The volume was down from 1546 auctions the previous week, although higher than this time last year when 867 auctions were held.

Of the 1249 results collected so far, 67.3 per cent have been successful.

This is the first time the city has seen the preliminary clearance rate slip below 70 per cent since early September 2020.

Last week saw a higher preliminary clearance rate of 71.4 per cent, which revised down to 67.2 per cent at final figures, making it the lowest final clearance rate the city has seen all year.

“It’s likely that the final clearance rate will slip further this week as remaining results are collected,” CoreLogic said.

This time last year, 74.1 per cent of reported auctions were successful.

The smaller capitals

Across the smaller auction markets, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 82.1 per cent, followed by Adelaide (76.4 per cent), Brisbane (74.6 per cent) and Perth (43.5 per cent).

There were just five auctions held in Tasmania this week, and of the three results captured so far, only one was successful.

Domain results

Domain has reported a national preliminary clearance rate of 70.2 per cent after tracking 3096 auctions this weekend.

So far, results are in for 1939 of those auctions, with 1361 properties selling (to the value of $1155.6 million), while 292 properties were withdrawn.

Last week, the clearance rate settled at 65.5 per cent after 3172 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 2785 of those auctions, with 1824 properties selling (to the value of $1701.1 million), while 413 properties were withdrawn.

This time last year, the clearance rate was 69 per cent after 1673 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 1590 of those auctions, with 1097 properties selling (to the value of $1480.9 million, while 152 properties were withdrawn

Sydney

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate is currently 73.6 per cent after 1189 properties were taken to auction this weekend.

So far, results have been provided for 693 of those auctions, with 510 properties selling (to the value of $516.1 million), while 125 properties were withdrawn.

Last week, Sydney’s final clearance rate was 66.8 per cent after 1237 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 1092 of those auctions, with 729 properties selling (to the value of $820.5 million), while 169 properties were withdrawn.

This time last year, Sydney’s clearance rate was 73.6 per cent after 763 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 716 of those auctions, with 527 properties selling (to the value of $848.7 million), while 71 properties were withdrawn.

Melbourne

Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate is 65.3 per cent after 1491 properties were taken to auction this week.

So far, results are in for 992 of those auctions with 648 properties selling (to the value of $504.3 million), while 144 properties were withdrawn.

Last week, Melbourne’s clearance rate settled at 63.7 per cent after 1521 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 1309 of those auctions, with 834 properties selling (to the value of $683.7 million), while 201 properties were withdrawn.

This time last year, Melbourne’s clearance rate was 66.2 per cent after 711 properties were taken to auction.

Results were provided for 683 of those auctions, with 452 properties selling (to the value of $517.6 million), while 62 properties were withdrawn.

Ray White results

The Ray White Group has booked more than 3000 auctions so far this month across Australia, and note momentum keeps building across all markets, with Sydney shining brightly on Saturday with an 80 per cent clearance rate across the harbour city.

On Saturday, the group had 446 auctions scheduled to go under the hammer, recording an average of 4.6 registered bidders per auction nationally and 2.9 actively participating.

Some new data their auction team is now collecting indicates 65 per cent of the group’s sellers were owner occupiers and 27 per cent were investors.

Meanwhile, 71 per cent of buyers were owner occupiers with 23 per cent investors.

New South Wales

Ray White NSW Chief Auctioneer Alex Pattaro said Saturday’s auctions were strong.

“Premium properties across all of Sydney continue to be the first choice for buyers, helping sellers achieve incredible property prices under the auction hammer.

“Second and third tier properties are seeing a lesser number of buyers and competition at their auctions simply due to the high number of properties within the market,” Mr Pattaro said.

“With little stock expected to come to market between now and the end of the year due to the Christmas break, it makes a great time to sell as there’s less competition within the market and the buyer pool starts to fill up again.”

Queensland

Ray White Queensland Chief Auctioneer Gavin Croft said the strength of the market was high.

“It’s fair to suggest the Queensland market now is behaving like Sydney and Melbourne has done for many years with the sophistication and energy and the way in which buyers are hitting it – it reminds me of those days in Sydney where again, that level of sophistication we just haven’t seen.

“Whether it’s the apartment market in the inner city you know in those early $300,000 or whether it’s right through to $9 million under the hammer, buyers are coming in they’re really performing with gusto.

“It’s certainly great to see as we have strong auction volumes running now right through to the end of the year. Then there’s some big January auction events on their way.”

South Australia

Ray White South Australia Chief Auctioneer John Morris said it looks like Christmas has come early for those selling on the first Saturday in December.

“For many of the vendors who chose Ray White to auction off their properties, we enter the weekend with an 80 per cent clear rate and while bidder registrations are down slightly at 5.5 as opposed to last week at 7.3.

“We’re going to finish off the year with an incredible number of more than 1300 auctions scheduled which is double the amount for 2020. It looks like we’re coming into 2022 with an absolute bang with many auctions scheduled already. It’s not looking like we’re getting any kind of crash anytime soon.”

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Cassandra Charlesworth

Cassandra Charlesworth is a features writer for Elite Agent Magazine with over 15 years’ journalism experience in metropolitan and regional newsrooms. She has a specialist interest in real estate, tech disruption and a good old-fashioned “yarn”.