Just a week out from Christmas, the auction market continues to show its strength, with 4756 properties going under the hammer across the country.
The high volume ends the busiest auction year ever recorded, with CoreLogic data indicating 116,684 capital city auctions have been held over 2021 to date, overtaking 2017 when 109,268 were conducted.
CoreLogic noted this made the past week the second busiest on record and it was only narrowly surpassed by last week’s volume when an astounding 4981 properties went to auction.
It also proved the fourth consecutive week where volumes exceeded 4000 properties, with the volume more than twice that seen in the same week last year when 2331 properties went to auction.
“The higher volumes over recent months have seen the preliminary clearance rate continue to trend lower,” CoreLogic said.
“Of the 3838 results collected so far, 63.4 per cent were successful.”
This was down from the previous week when a preliminary clearance rate of 66.6 per cent was recorded, which later revised down to 64 per cent at final figures.
This time last year 69.8 per cent of reported auctions were successful.
Melbourne
Across Melbourne, 2140 homes were taken to auction this week, making it the second busiest auction week on record, behind last week which saw 2318 auctions held across the city.
This time last year, auction volumes were significantly lower, with 1182 properties going under the hammer.
Of the 1778 results collected so far, 62.3 per cent were successful.
This was down from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 65.3 per cent which revised down to a final clearance rate of 63.3 per cent.
This time last year, 69.4 per cent of Melbourne auctions were successful.
Sydney
There were 1631 Sydney homes taken to auction this week, and like Melbourne, it proved the second busiest auction week on record, tying with the week ending 30 November, 2014.
The previous week saw a record breaking 1791 homes taken to auction, while this time last year saw substantially less auction activity across the city (764).
Of the 1315 results collected so far, 60.8 per cent were successful.
This was in line with last week’s final clearance rate, which revised down from a preliminary clearance rate of 63.6 per cent.
“This means that it is more than likely that Sydney’s final clearance rate will fall below 60 per cent for the first time this year when the remaining results are collected,” CoreLogic said.
This time last year, 72 per cent of reported results were successful.
The smaller markets
Across the smaller auction markets, Brisbane (351), Adelaide (345) and Canberra (254) all overtook last week as their busiest auction week since records commenced in 2008.
Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 73 per cent, followed by Adelaide (71.1 per cent) and Brisbane (69.9 per cent).
Perth recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 51.9 per cent, noting 27 of 32 auctions have been reported so far.
In Tasmania, two of the three auction results have been collected so far, with both of them reported as withdrawn.
Looking ahead
CoreLogic predicts volumes will now slow “sharply” for the Christmas break, with only 600 auctions scheduled in the coming week.
“Which is still remarkably higher than average for the lead into Christmas,” they said.
“Activity doesn’t normally rebound until late January or early February, however we could see an earlier start to the season if the December momentum carries through to 2022.”
Domain results
Domain has reported a preliminary clearance rate of 62.1 per cent after tracking 2981 auctions this week.
So far, results are in for 2023 of those auctions with 1257 properties selling (to the value of $1087.3 million), while 442 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, the final clearance rate settled at 61 per cent after 3630 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 3193 of those auctions, with 1948 properties selling (to the value of $1802.7 million), while 507 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, the clearance rate was 70.5 per cent after 1587 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 1542 of those auctions, with 1087 properties selling (to the value of $1173.6 million), while 154 properties were withdrawn.
Sydney
Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate was 58.3 per cent this week after 1026 properties were taken to auction.
So far, results are in for 665 of those auctions, with 388 properties selling (to the value of $427.5 million), while 208 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, Sydney’s final clearance rate was 58.2 per cent after 1367 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 1221 of those auctions with 711 properties selling (to the value of $799.2 million), while 266 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, Sydney’s clearance rate was 71.6 per cent after 564 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 545 of those auctions, with 390 properties selling (to the value of $526.4 million), while 64 properties were withdrawn.
Melbourne
Melbourne has recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 61.3 per cent after 1480 properties went to auction this week.
So far, results are in for 1050 of those auctions, with 644 properties selling (to the value of $505.7 million), while 209 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, Melbourne’s final clearance rate settled at 59 per cent after 1766 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 1611 of those auctions, with 950 properties selling (to the value of $791.6 million), while 221 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, Melbourne’s clearance rate was 70.7 per cent after 851 properties were taken to auction.
Results were provided for 829 of those auctions, with 586 properties selling (to the value of $569.8 million), while 79 properties were withdrawn.
