Australia’s auction market is holding steady, with solid clearance rates last week, as the number of properties going under the hammer surged.
According to CoreLogic figures, 2550 auctions were held last week, which was an incredible 1234 more than at the same time last year, when just 1316 were auctioned.
Importantly, the preliminary clearance rate increased slightly to 72 per cent, up from 70.1 per cent last week and 60 per cent for the same week in 2022.
Last week, Melbourne played host to the most auctions with 1038, up from 982 the week prior and just 130 in the corresponding week of 2022.
The Victorian capital recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 70.5 per cent on the 838 auction results collected so far.
Sydney had 978 auctions last week, up from 927 the week before and 807 in 2022.
The harbour city recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 74.4 per cent, on the 777 auction results collected so far.
This clearance rate was second only to Adelaide, which recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 84.1 per cent on 82 auction results collected so far.
Ray White results
Ray White’s auction volumes also continued to surge, with 407 properties going under the hammer over the weekend.
This number dwarfs the previous year’s 191 auctions.
The group’s clearance rate also matched national trends at 74 per cent, with 4.3 registered bidders per auction, on average, and 2.9 active average bidders.
Ray White NSW | ACT State Auctioneer Perry Edmondson-Clark said 159 auctions had been scheduled last week.
“These numbers continue to show that we are in fact continuing to see more stock come onto the market week in and week out,” he said.
“With more stock launching we will see registered bidder numbers slowly drop as they have more choice, but the important number which we are keeping an eye on is that our active bidding number remains steady, which it has this week, and over the last few weeks as well.
“This shows a huge amount of consistency in the market.
“With a preliminary clearance rate of 70 per cent, this is an incredible number and further support to the strong market that we’re currently seeing and expecting to continue right through until the end of 2023.”
Ray White Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee said house prices had risen across the country since the start of the year and a key driver of this has been a shortage of stock.
But she said just because stock was now increasing, it didn’t necessarily mean prices and clearance rates would drop.
“Housing markets are far too complex to be driven by just one factor and the outlook is not driven simply by a change in the number of properties available,” she said.
“Both supply and demand of properties are being driven by a range of varying influences. It is simplistic to say that because listings are going up, there is insufficient demand to maintain price momentum and therefore prices will either slow down or even fall.”
The top sale of the day was 1 Ocean Court, Shelly Beach, which sold for $4.2 million through Ray White Caloundra Principal Andrew Garland and sales agent Marcus Lane.
Ray White Queensland Chief Auctioneer Gavin Croft said this week the group passed 4000 auctions for the calendar year in the state, which was well on the way to the year’s goal of 7000 auctions.
“The last few weeks has seen a further increase in average registered bidder numbers to six and early indications are this number is likely to stay the same,” he said.
“The clear highlight of the day for me was the auction at 10 Lakkari St, Eight Mile Plains for Michelle Lee at Ray White Rochedale, who sold the property under the hammer for $1.44 million in front of a crowd of 130 people and 17 registered bidders.
“Spring is shaping as a bumper time in Queensland if current supply and demand remain similar.”
Domain results
Domain also reported an increase in auction numbers, with 2000 properties listed for auction nationally last week, up on 1043 listed in 2022.
The platform received auction results for 1270 properties last week, with 854 selling, resulting in a clearance rate of 67.2 per cent.
The clearance rate on 886 reported auctions in the corresponding week last year was 57.9 per cent.
The most expensive auction result was for 19 Muston St, Mosman, which sold for $8.5 million.
The most affordable property was 2/468 Kooyong Rd, Caulfield South, which sold for $294,000.
