Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate has broken the 80% mark for the third time this year – which bodes well for brokers in the area.
Since August last year, Sydney has consistently been recording the strongest clearance rate of all Australian capital cities. This week was no different, with a preliminary clearance rate of 80.2% and 844 auctions held in the city, according to real estate data provider RP Data.
Strong auction market conditions are emphasised, as over the same week last year there were 533 Sydney auctions with a clearance rate over 10 percentage points lower than the most recent week, recorded at 67.6%, RP Data said.
On a year-to-date basis, auction volumes across the city are around 60% higher than they were last year.
Across the country, RP Data recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 70.4% this week, with 1,506 auctions held across the capital cities.
But auction volumes are down substantially compared to the 2,712 capital city auctions the previous week, which is likely due to the public holiday on Monday in Victoria, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania, RP Data said.
A preliminary clearance rate in Melbourne of 63.3% was recorded this weekend compared to 76.6% last weekend, again likely due to the long weekend.
RP Data’s Victorian housing market specialist Robert Larocca said with the first phase of the real estate year now concluded, it is “clear” this is the best start for the Melbourne market recorded since 2010.
This week, RP Data expects auction volumes to increase again with 2,161 capital city auctions currently scheduled.
