Auction Volumes and Clearance rates steady in the first weekend of Summer with Canberra the standout performer

National auction clearance results for the week ending 03/12/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic.

Over the same week last year, auction volumes were similar to this week (3,207), although the clearance rate was considerably higher at 72.3 percent. Across the two largest auction markets, Melbourne and Sydney, both cities saw an increase in the rate of clearance over the week, however the 66.0 percent preliminary clearance rate across Melbourne is only slightly higher than last week’s final; this is likely to revise lower as final results are collected and potentially surpass last week as the lowest seen since June 2016. While the performance across the smaller markets was varied this week, with Canberra recording the highest preliminary clearance rate of 75.6 percent, while only 44.9 percent of homes sold across Brisbane.

In Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market, a preliminary auction clearance rate of 66.0 percent was recorded across 1,652 auctions this week. Last week, Melbourne’s final clearance rate was recorded at 65.5 percent across 1,736 auctions, making it the lowest clearance rate the city has seen since June 2016. While one year ago, 1,416 homes were taken to auction across Melbourne and a clearance rate of 77.3 percent was recorded. The busiest Melbourne sub-regions this week were Melbourne’s Inner region and Inner South region, where 290 and 256 auctions were held respectively.

Across Sydney, 1,126 auctions were held this week, down from 1,215 over the previous week. The preliminary clearance rate of 62.4 percent is up from 56.8 percent last week, however still lower than this time last year, when a clearance rate of 75.2 percent was recorded across 1,182 auctions. Looking at the sub-regions of Sydney, the Ryde region recorded the strongest clearance rate of 73.9 percent across 75 auctions, while the North Sydney and Hornsby region had the highest volume of auctions (182).

Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate this week was 44.9 percent, down from 52.1 percent last week. There were 191 Brisbane auctions this week, compared to 153 last week. The Gold Coast was host to 65 auctions this week. Based on the results reported to CoreLogic so far, only 32.4 percent have been sold.

This week, Adelaide saw a preliminary clearance rate of 64.6 percent, with 99 reported results across a total of 141 scheduled auctions. In comparison, over the previous week, Adelaide’s clearance rate was 63.4 percent and 65.3 percent one year ago.

Perth’s clearance rate of 47.6 percent across 50 auctions is up from the previous week when 43 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 33.3 percent was recorded.  Over the same week last year, the clearance rate was a higher 55.1 percent, and 89 auctions were held.

Across Canberra, a total of 105 auctions were held this week, compared to 128 last week and 136 at the same time last year. Canberra’s preliminary clearance rate of 75.6 percent is higher than it was the previous week (61.7 percent).

There were only 11 Tasmanian auctions held this week. 4 were reported as sold.

Preliminary clearance rates in each state courtesy of CoreLogic (as at 9am EST 03/12/2017):

• Sydney – 62.4% clearance, 1126 total auctions, 828 results reported, 517 cleared, 311 uncleared
• Melbourne – 66% clearance, 1652 total auctions, 1370 results reported, 904 cleared, 466 uncleared
• Brisbane – 44.9% clearance, 191 total auctions, 136 results reported, 61 cleared, 75 uncleared
• Adelaide – 64.6% clearance, 141 total auctions, 99 results reported, 64 cleared, 35 uncleared
• Perth – 47.6% clearance, 50 total auctions, 21 results reported, 10 cleared, 11 uncleared
• Tasmania – 66.7% clearance, 11 total auctions, 6 results reported, 4 cleared, 2 uncleared
• Canberra – 75.6% clearance, 105 total auctions, 86 results reported, 65 cleared, 21 uncleared
  Combined national preliminary result – 63.8% clearance, 3276 total auctions (2546 reported, 1625 cleared). Weighted average clearance rate 63.5%

Last week’s preliminary results as reported are here

^{The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday by CoreLogic. CoreLogic, on average, collects between 85% and 90% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.}