Clearance rate slips, however
The combined capital clearance rate experienced a decline as Sydney and Melbourne hosted their busiest auction week since Easter, according to new data from CoreLogic.
Auction activity in the capital cities continued to rise for the third consecutive week, surpassing the previous week as the busiest period since before Easter. A total of 2,275 homes were auctioned across the combined capitals, marking an 11.7% increase compared to the previous week's 2,037 auctions and a 13.4% rise from the 2,006 auctions held at the same time last year.
Despite the upward trend in auction activity, the preliminary clearance rate for the combined capitals dropped by 2 percentage points this week, CoreLogic reported. Out of the 1,766 results collected so far, 72.0% returned a successful outcome. This decline can be attributed to a higher withdrawal rate, which increased from 7.3% to 9.9%, indicating vendors' growing caution.
Additionally, the proportion of properties passed in at auction decreased from 25.5% to 18.3%. It is worth noting that last week's preliminary clearance rate of 74% was revised to 67.5% at final numbers, while during the same period last year, only 55.8% of auctions were successful.
Melbourne emerged as the busiest auction market, with over 1,000 homes going under the hammer this week, a 24.3% increase from the previous week's 841 auctions. Out of the 854 results collected so far, Melbourne's preliminary clearance rate stood at 69.9%, falling just below the 70% mark for the fourth time in six weeks. Last week's preliminary clearance rate was higher at 72.7% but was revised to 65.6% in the final figures, CoreLogic reported. In comparison, during the same period last year, Melbourne hosted 832 auctions, resulting in a final clearance rate of 59.7%.
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Sydney witnessed its second busiest auction week of the year, with 887 homes going under the hammer. This represents an 8.4% increase from the 818 auctions held the previous week and a 13.9% rise from the 779 auctions during the same period last year. Out of the 690 results collected so far, 74.6% reported a successful outcome, a decrease of 2.9 percentage points compared to the previous week. The preliminary clearance rate for last week, initially recorded at 77.5% but revised to 70.3%, marked the city's highest since late June, according to CoreLogic. In contrast, during the same period last year, just over half (51.7%) of Sydney auctions were successful.
Smaller capitals
While Sydney and Melbourne recorded their busiest weeks since before Easter, the smaller capitals experienced a 9.3% decline in weekly auction activity.
Among the smaller capitals, Adelaide was the only market to witness a rise in auction numbers, with a 9.5% increase and 127 homes auctioned, CoreLogic reported. Brisbane (122) and Canberra (83) both saw a decrease in auction activity, with declines of 20.3% and 8.8% respectively.
Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate among the smaller capitals since late February, reaching 88.2%. Brisbane had a clearance rate of 70.9%, while 54.8% of auctions in Canberra were successful.
Only one out of the 11 auctions held in Perth yielded a successful result, and no auctions took place in Tasmania this week, according to CoreLogic.
The upcoming first week of spring is expected to see a further rise in auction activity, with over 2,400 capital city auctions scheduled.
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