Clearance rates creep back up in July

While clearance rates have remained low, with CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator reporting last week’s clearance rates hit the lowest national preliminary clearance rate at 55 per cent (since the pandemic), this week saw an uptick with 58.6 per cent of the 1,264 results collected returning a successful result.

But auction activity was slower, with 1,610 homes under the hammer in the week ended 10 July that was a 14.4 per cent reduction on last week’s 1,881 auction volume. Lower auction figures not only represent a decrease from the week prior, but also from the same time last year, when 2,104 auctions were held.

In Sydney, the nation’s busiest capital, volume was down 19.3 per cent from the previous week, with 756 auctions held across the Harbour City. A week of wild weather, which caused severe flooding in parts of the city’s west and south-west also caused auction activity to be down 8.4 per cent from the initial estimate of 666.

From 610 results collected, 487 results have returned as positive, representing a preliminary clearance rate of 57.5 per cent and a 5-percentage point increase on last week’s 52.5 per cent.

The North Sydney and Hornsby region recorded the worst preliminary clearance rate (49.2 per cent) in the city, while the inner west reported a 77.5 per cent success rate from 43 auctions.

Down south, Melbourne played host to 603 auctions during the seven-day period, a decline of 7.8 per cent from the 654 seen the week prior and 44 per cent on this time last year. A total of 500 results have been collected so far with 59.4 per cent of those reported as successful, a 2.6 per cent increase on the previous week’s 56.8 per cent.

The Victorian capital’s outer east was its strongest performer, registering a preliminary clearance rate of 75.6 per cent from 51 total auctions, whereas the city’s west, where just 46 per cent of the 88 auctions were successful, was its weakest subregion.

Around the smaller capital cities, Adelaide was the busiest. The South Australian capital played host to 159 auctions throughout the week, with its preliminary clearance rate of 68.6 per cent matched by Canberra, although the national capital only hosted 88 auctions.

In Brisbane, Corelogic reported a total of 143 auctions, with the Queensland capital recording its lowest preliminary clearance rate, 43.6 per cent, since the middle of November 2020 (36.4 per cent).

Of the three results collected in Perth so far, zero have been reported as successful while one of the two Tasmanian auctions registered a positive outcome.

[Related: Clearance rates at lowest since April 2020]

Kate Aubrey is the senior content producer of Momentum Media's mortgages titles: The Adviser and Mortgage Business.

Prior to joining Momentum Media, Kate covered regional and breaking news for ABC Radio for more than three years.

She has a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of International Business and Business Management from Griffith University.

Email Kate at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.