Sydney has recorded an auction clearance rate of 69.7% – its strongest preliminary clearance rate since mid-April.
CoreLogic figures showed that Sydney hosted 701 auctions during the first week of November, down -6.7% from last week when 751 homes were auctioned. This result is 7.3% above last week's preliminary clearance rate of 62.3%.
The Sydney sub-region of Parramatta recorded a 75.7% clearance rate, followed closely by Ryde at 75% and Inner South-West at 74.6%.
Auction activity fell -2% across the combined capitals during the first weekend in November with 1,883 capital city homes taken to auction. In the previous week, 1,921 homes went under the hammer, while this time last year, auction activity was significantly stronger with 3,292 homes auctioned across the capitals.
CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy (pictured above left) said the rise in Sydney's preliminary clearance rate meant the portion of properties passed in at auction (14.8%) fell to its lowest rate since mid-February (14.2%).
“This time last year, 74.1% of the 1,239 auctions held across Sydney reported a successful result,” Ezzy said. “Looking ahead to this week, after hovering around 1,900 over the past two weeks, scheduled capital city auction numbers are up 19.1% this week with 2,283 homes scheduled for auction, which will be the busiest auction week since late June when 2,364 capital city homes were auctioned.”
Ezzy said 871 homes were scheduled for auction this week in Sydney, making for its busiest week since late June (890).
“This marks the seventh time Sydney’s auction activity is scheduled to exceed 800 since Easter,” she said. “This week’s auction volumes are 23.7% above the number recorded last week (704) but are -30.8% below the number of auctions held this time last year (1,259).”
Sydney brokerage Wealthful mortgage broker Chris Bates (pictured above right) said the recent cash rate hikes were affecting listing volumes and overall clearance rates.
“People were fearful and cautious about their borrowing capacity following consecutive interest rate rises,” Bates said. “Vendors weren’t adjusted to the market movement; however, people who are listing their homes now are much more realistic with their price expectations. Property prices are stabilising and people are not going to market unless they are motivated to sell.”
Bates said property buyers have factored in a rising interest rate environment when working out how much they were willing to spend on a property.
“Meanwhile, less properties are hitting the market, meaning there are less listings overall,” he said. “You wouldn’t list unless you wanted to sell. Buyers are more confident in this market and it is not new news that the market has come back.”
Bates said listing numbers were down across all areas his clients purchased property in.
“At the moment, people are reluctant to sell and buy unless they have to because they don’t know what their new interest rate might be or if they could even borrow the money,” he said.
“In a down market, quality properties are harder to come by as [they] hit the market, but if they do, you have a higher chance of getting one. If you are patient and someone selling a good property comes along, vendors of good properties are likely to take a fair offer rather than regretting not taking an offer at all.”
