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Nearly 2,000 homes were taken to auction across the capital cities last week, an increase in volume of 21% from the week preceding, according to CoreLogic data.
“This week, we saw a reasonably significant increase in activity, but the clearance rate didn’t appear to be impacted and in fact, remained very strong,” said CoreLogic auction commentator, Kevin Brogan.
While volumes remain lower as compared to one year ago when 400 more properties were taken to auction, this week returned a preliminary clearance rate of 74% as compared to last year, when almost half failed to sell.
In Sydney, 647 homes were taken to auction, returning a clearance rate of 76.6%. Year on year, 851 homes were auctioned in Sydney, achieving just a 51.1% success rate.
Of the smaller markets, Canberra performed the best with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 65.3%, with Adelaide following with 59.2% of homes selling at auction.
Melbourne was the “primary driver” of the strong results this week, with over 1,000 homes taken to auction with a 77.8% success rate as compared to a year ago when 1,161 homes returned a 53.8% clearance rate.
However, the AFL Grand Final taking place on Saturday, 28 September will briefly disrupt the auction market momentum, with just 84 auctions scheduled in Melbourne for next week.
“Melbourne makes up 40% of the market, so the interruption in Victoria will impact our interpretation of results across the whole country,” said Brogan.
While Melbourne may be facing a temporary halt in activity, it will be “business as usual” in Sydney with 894 auctions scheduled for next week.
“The results are going to be dominated by Sydney, with almost 900 of the 1,200 auctions scheduled to take place there, 75% of the upcoming weekend,” said Brogan.
However, it is expected Melbourne will get “back into the rhythm” the weekend after the big game, as it has done in years past.
