Auction volumes have fallen across Australia with just over 1,400 auctions held this week – a figure which was significantly down from the approximately 2,900 auctions held the week prior.
These statistics come from the latest
CoreLogic data which also found that the number of auctions held this week was slightly lower than the almost 1,500 held in the same period last year.
In four out of the eight states and territories, the public holiday yesterday (13 March) may have contributed to this decrease.
However, Kevin Brogan, CoreLogic manager of valuation policy & compliance, told
Australian Broker that this lull was also due to the seasonal fluctuation in auction numbers.
“At this time of year, we’re entering the Public Holiday Season,” he said. “And what we generally see on a seasonal basis is after the summer holidays, there is this fairly rapid increase in auction activity. That reaches a point typically at the end of February or beginning of March where you have a little bit of a peak.”
Looking at data from the last three years, there is usually a small step back from that peak, Brogan said.
Numbers go up on the last weekend before Easter which is usually quite a big auction weekend, he added.
“This year, Easter is in the second week of April so the Easter Effect hasn’t really hit yet. That’ll probably be over the first couple of weeks next month.”
“An increase in the week before Easter is a pattern that we can assert quite readily in the data that we’ve got from previous years. I expect that will happen.”
Looking at preliminary clearance rates for the past week, these have gone up with Sydney at 83.1% and Melbourne at 84.3%. The highest clearance rate was in Adelaide at 87%.
This increase was due to a drop off in the number of properties listed on the market across Australia, Brogan said.
“If you’ve got solid demand but fewer properties on the market, that’s going to provide a bit of upwards pressure on those clearance rates.”
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