Auction success rate rockets despite Melbourne

CoreLogic auctions data for the week ending 20 September has revealed that the combined capital city preliminary auction clearance rate came in at 72.4 per cent last week.

There were 918 homes taken to auction over last week, which, while still significantly lower than the 1,983 homes taken to auction this time last year, was higher than the 816 homes that went under the hammer over the previous week.

The previous week recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 67.3 per cent, which later revised down to 63.0 per cent at final figures.

This time last year, the final clearance rate was 70.7 per cent across the combined capitals.

Auction activity across Melbourne remains extremely low amid the lockdown to curtail the second wave of the coronavirus, with only 11 homes taken to auction.

Of the results collected so far, all seven were successful, with five reported as selling prior to auction and two selling on the day.

Over the previous week, 13 auctions were held across the city, while this time last year, 1,020 Melbourne homes were taken to auction.

“Auction numbers are expected to rise off their record lows next week, with CoreLogic currently tracking around 60 auctions scheduled to be held,” CoreLogic said in its auctions’ summary report.

Sydney held 679 auctions last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 72.4 per cent across the 562 results collected so far.

In the previous week, there were 600 auctions in Sydney, with a final auction clearance rate of 65.9 per cent. This time last year, there were 646 homes taken to auction with a final success rate of 72.7 per cent.

Across the other capital cities, Canberra returned the highest preliminary clearance rate of 89.2 per cent across 74 auctions, while in Adelaide there were 73 auctions with a preliminary success rate of 64.0 per cent, and Brisbane held 65 auctions and returned a 61.9 per cent preliminary clearance rate.

Perth held 14 auctions but CoreLogic did not record a clearance rate as it requires a minimum sample size of 10 results to report a clearance rate.

Property listings have continued to plummet in Melbourne, which had 1,580 new listings, a 77 per cent drop over 12 months.

In comparison, there was only a 1.1 per cent drop in listings in Sydney, which had 6,308 new properties listed for sale.

Darwin recorded the second highest decline in listings, dropping by 44.9 per cent to 76 new properties listed for sale.

Across the combined capitals, there was a 27.2 per cent drop over the last 12 months, with 17,058 new properties listed for sale.

[Related: Inner-city rent values hit harder amid COVID-19]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.