Melbourne Cup fails to dampen auction volumes

CoreLogic’s auctions data for the week ending 1 November showed that there were 604 homes taken to auction in Melbourne.

Of the 530 results collected so far, 75.8 per cent have been successful, increasing on last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 72.6 per cent. This later revised down to 63.5 per cent by final collection.

“The week leading up to Melbourne Cup traditionally sees auction volumes dip across the city; however, this year doesn’t appear to be impacted to the extent that we would usually see, which is not overly surprising given restrictions across the city have only started to ease,” CoreLogic stated in its property market indicator summary.

These strong auction results in Melbourne were reflected nationally as well, with increased auction volumes returning the highest preliminary clearance rate since March.

The number of new properties listed for sale have improved significantly in Melbourne over the 28 days ending 25 October, with 8,268 new listings, which is a 3 per cent decline over 12 months.

This was the lowest level of decline across the capital cities over the last 12 months, with Sydney declining by 10.4 per cent with 6,828 new listings, while Darwin recorded the steepest 12-month decline of 53.1 per cent, recording just 99 new listings.

Across the combined capital cities, there were 1,757 homes taken to auction last week, up from 1,427 homes over the previous week, and 1,555 this time last year.

Of the 1,433 results collected so far, 77.0 per cent were successful, beating the preliminary clearance rate of 77.1 per cent on the week ending 1 March.

Over the previous week, a preliminary clearance rate of 76.2 per cent was recorded across the combined cities, revising down to a final figure of 66.9 per cent.

In Sydney, 864 homes went under the hammer last week, increasing from 700 over the previous week, and 843 this time last year.

The higher volumes saw the preliminary clearance rate hold reasonably firm at 79.6 per cent across the 697 results collected so far.

A preliminary success rate of 80.4 per cent was recorded over the previous week, which revised down to 70.4 per cent at final figures.

This time last year, 74.6 per cent of reported auctions were successful.

Across the other capital cities, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate of 81.7 per cent across a total of 85 auctions, with 71 results collected so far.

In Brisbane there were 93 auctions held, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 60.3 per cent across 68 results collected so far, while Adelaide held 95 auctions, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 77.2 per cent across 57 results collected so far.

There were only 15 auctions held in Perth, with the Western Australian capital city recording a preliminary clearance rate of 55.6 per cent across nine results collected so far.

[Related: Continued demand fuels regional property growth]

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.