Melbourne recovery drives Australia-wide auction increase

Data from the latest CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator showed the preliminary figures from the week ended 25 October, with 1,100 results collected so far and 842 auctions already successful.

The data equates to a 76.2 per cent clearance rate, which is higher than the previous week’s preliminary clearance of 72.4 per cent across a lower 1,131 auctions. This was later revised further down to 66.2 per cent by final collection on Wednesday. One year ago, a much higher 2,622 capital city auctions took place with a 72.2 per cent success rate.

According to CoreLogic, the increase in overall volumes this week can be attributed to the ramp-up in activity across Melbourne, where 505 homes were taken to auction during the same period.

“This makes it the busiest week the city has seen since July and also the largest number of auctions held across Melbourne on a grand final weekend historically.”

The increase in activity across the city returned a preliminary auction clearance rate of 72.6 per cent, higher than the 65 per cent preliminary figure last week, which was revised down to 60.2 per cent by final collection.

Meanwhile, Sydney saw 712 homes auctioned this week, and of the 551 results collected so far, 80.4 per cent already had sold results. Both volumes and clearance rates increased from last week’s 704 homes taken to auction and a final auction clearance rate of 69.1 per cent. Last year, 771 Sydney auctions were held, returning a final auction clearance rate of 74.3 per cent.

Across the smaller cities, Canberra was the best performer, with weekly volumes rising to 94 and preliminary clearance rate recorded at 84 per cent. Adelaide and Brisbane followed, with preliminary clearance rates of 83.3 per cent and 56.5 per cent, respectively.

Home values

Across the major capital cities, Adelaide and Perth saw the highest weekly change in median home values at 0.4 of a percentage point and 0.3 of a percentage point, respectively. Meanwhile, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all saw a 0.1 of a percentage point increase.

Over the month, Adelaide had the highest increase at 1.1 per cent, while Melbourne stood as the only capital city that saw a decrease, declining by -0.2 of a percentage point.

Looking at the year-to-date change, Adelaide remains the winner, with an increase of 3.3 per cent, followed by Brisbane and Sydney with 1.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively. Melbourne and Perth both saw declines at -3.0 per cent and -0.3 of a percentage point, respectively.

As of this week, private treaty median prices across the capital cities are as follows:

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

Meanwhile, average time on market for houses was longest in Melbourne at 68 days, followed by Darwin (58), Brisbane (53), Perth (50), Adelaide (38), Sydney (37), Canberra (34) and Hobart (28). For units, Darwin recorded the highest number at 99 days, while Hobart was the lowest at 30 days.

Vendor discounting across capital cities ranged from 0.7 of a percentage point to 3.4 per cent for houses, with Darwin having the highest discounts and Canberra the lowest, and 1.9 per cent to 4.0 per cent for units, with Perth having the highest discounts and Canberra the lowest.