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Auction markets experienced a slight dip in activity over the weekend as Australia faces rising cases of COVID-19 in multiple states, according to CoreLogic.
Over the weekend, 2,177 homes went into auction, lower than the 2,960 recorded in the preceding weekend. The preliminary clearance rate for the weekend hit 73.6%, weaker than the recent final clearance rate of 75.4%.
Melbourne hosted the highest number of auctions at 1,067, which returned a clearance rate of 75.6%.
"Melbourne is currently seeing a relatively low number of COVID cases and out of lockdown. As a result the auction market is returning to ‘business as usual’," said Jade Harling, analyst at CoreLogic.
Melbourne outpaced Sydney in terms of volume and success rate, with the latter hosting only 765 auctions and recording a 71.6% clearance rate.
Around 863 auctions were originally scheduled for Sydney but around 10% were rescheduled to a later date. The city also recorded a withdrawal rate of 23% for the week.
Across smaller markets, Brisbane was the busiest, recording 133 auctions. This was lower than the originally-scheduled 153. Some of the auctions were rescheduled as the city entered into a 4-day lockdown, which ended Saturday night.
The table below shows the performance of each capital city auction market:
