Auction volumes were down in the first week of August however preliminary clearance rate was higher

National auction clearance results for the week ending 06/08/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic

The preliminary auction clearance rose to 71.5 percent, after last week saw the final auction clearance rate fall slightly to 68.7 percent (revised lower from a preliminary clearance of 70.7%). Over the last month, auction volumes have remained relatively steady and while clearance rates have shown a softening, final results have been consistently in the high 60 percent range since the first week of June. Across the two larger auction markets, Melbourne continues to show resilience to softening conditions relative to Sydney, with Melbourne’s clearance rate recording in the mid-high 70 percent range for another week (75.7 percent), while Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate increased over the week (71.5 percent). Last week Sydney recorded its lowest rate of clearance so far this year (65.4 percent).

In Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market, 75.7 percent of the 799 reported auctions sold this week. There were 907 auctions held across the city this week, down from 956 last week when the final auction clearance rate was 75.6 percent and higher than the 724 auctions held one year ago, with a lower clearance rate (74.2 percent). The Inner region of Melbourne had the highest number of auctions this week (162), with a preliminary clearance rate of 75.4 percent. Meanwhile, the strongest clearance rate was recorded across the North West region and Mornington Peninsula region, where an 87.0 percent and 79.2 percent rate of clearance were recorded respectively.

Across Sydney, 615 homes were taken to auction this week with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.1 percent across 477 reported results. Last week, the final clearance rate for the city was 65.4 percent, across 714 auctions. One year ago, 544 Sydney homes were taken to auction and the clearance rate was 77.5 percent. This week, the performance across Sydney’s individual sub regions was varied. Across the Central Coast region, where 17 results have been reported so far, the preliminary clearance rate was 64.7 percent, while across City and Inner South (84.9 percent) and Inner West (82.1 percent) the success rate of reported auctions was much higher.

There were 153 Brisbane homes taken to auction this week, with 84 results reported so far. The preliminary clearance rate for the city is 48.8 percent, down from 49.6 percent last week and lower than one year ago, when 54.5 percent of the 127 properties taken to auction were successful. Across the Gold Coast 20 results have been reported so far, with a success rate of 40.0 percent (8 sales).

Adelaide recorded a clearance rate of 69.4 percent across 59 auctions this week, up from 64.0 percent across 82 auctions last week. At the same time last year, 58 homes were taken to auction, with 63.5 percent recording a successful result.

Perth’s clearance rate of 72.7 percent across 35 auctions is up from the previous week, when 28 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 34.8 percent was recorded.  Over the same week last year, the clearance rate was a lower 36.0 percent, and 30 auctions were held.

Canberra’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 69.6 percent this week is lower than last week, when the final auction clearance rate was 70.5 percent and lower than the 74.1 percent recorded last year.

There were only 5 Tasmanian auctions held this week. 1 was reported as sold.

Preliminary clearance rates in each state courtesy of CoreLogic (as at 9am EST 06/08/2017):

• Sydney – 71.1% clearance, 615 total auctions, 477 results reported, 339 cleared, 138 uncleared
• Melbourne – 75.7% clearance, 907 total auctions, 799 results reported, 605 cleared, 194 uncleared
• Brisbane – 48.8% clearance, 153 total auctions, 84 results reported, 41 cleared, 43 uncleared
• Adelaide – 69.4% clearance, 59 total auctions, 36 results reported, 25 cleared, 11 uncleared
• Perth – 72.7% clearance, 35 total auctions, 11 results reported, 8 cleared, 3 uncleared
• Tasmania – 100% clearance, 5 total auctions, 1 results reported, 1 cleared, 0 uncleared
• Canberra – 69.6% clearance, 72 total auctions, 56 results reported, 39 cleared, 17 uncleared
  Combined national preliminary result – 72.3% clearance, 1846 total auctions (1464 reported, 1058 cleared). Weighted average clearance rate 71.5%

Last week’s preliminary results as reported are here

^{The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects between 85% and 90% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.}