Capital city clearance rates continue to rise

CoreLogic’s latest Property Market Indicator Summary found that three-quarters of properties put up for auction across the combined capital cities last week (ending 15 November 2020) cleared.

The preliminary auction clearance rate was recorded at 75.1 per cent for the 1,739 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities last week, compared with 1,757 auctions over the previous week. Of the 1,388 results collected so far, 75.1 per cent were successful.

This was up on the prior week’s figures, which recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 73.2 per cent (revising down to 69.0 per cent at final figures).

One year ago, 2,590 homes were taken to auction and 70.1 per cent of reported auctions were successful.

Melbourne saw 603 auctions last week, down from the previous week’s 611 auctions. Of the 502 results collected so far, 73.5 per cent were successful, increasing from 71.8 per cent (which revised down to 68.0 per cent at final figures).

This time last year, 1,242 homes were taken to auction, recording a 74.3 per cent clearance rate. 

In Sydney, 849 homes were taken to auction, slightly down on 851 from the previous week and down from 947 this time last year.

The preliminary clearance rate came in at 76.6 per cent (down from the previous preliminary clearance rate of 78.6 per cent, which revised down to 73.3 per cent at final figures).

This time last year, 71.9 per cent of reported auctions were successful in Sydney.

Across the smaller cities, Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 90.9 per cent, followed closely by Canberra (89.7 per cent).

Brisbane and Perth recorded clearance rates of 53.1 per cent and 36.8 per cent, respectively.

Home values

All capital cities saw a slight increase in home values last week, with Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth recording a 0.2 per cent increase, and Sydney and Brisbane recording a 0.1 per cent increase.

Over the month, Adelaide had the highest increase at 0.9 per cent, followed by Perth with 0.7 per cent, and Melbourne and Brisbane with 0.5 per cent.

Looking at the year-to-date change, Adelaide remains the winner, with an increase of 3.7 per cent, followed by Brisbane with 2.1 per cent, Sydney with 1.7 per cent and Perth with 0.1 per cent. Melbourne was the only capital city that saw a decline in home value at -2.7 per cent.

Adelaide overtook Perth as the most affordable capital city for houses based on private treaty sales, with a median price of $472,750. Meanwhile, Darwin had the most affordable units, with the median price of $300,000.

Private treaty sales represent around 85 per cent of all dwelling sales across the country, according to CoreLogic.

Average time on market for houses was longest in Brisbane at 54 days, followed by Perth and Darwin with 44 and 43 days, respectively. Hobart had the shortest average time on market for houses at 27 days.

For units, Darwin recorded the longest average time on market at 84 days, while Hobart was the lowest at 28 days.

Vendor discounting across capital cities range from -3.5 per cent to -1.3 per cent, with Perth having the highest discounts and Canberra the lowest for both houses and units.

[Related: Owner-occupiers drive housing finance bump: CoreLogic]