Auction rates dip as new listings spike

Property research group CoreLogic’s auctions data for the week ending 25 April has revealed that there were 2,041 capital city homes taken to auction last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 78.5 per cent.

Both volumes and clearance rates fell compared with the previous week, when 2,467 properties were auctioned across the capital cities and the preliminary clearance rate was 80.5 per cent, later revising down to 78.6 per cent by final collection.

One year ago, there were only 413 auctions with a success rate of 41.1 per cent amid ongoing restrictions banning onsite auctions and inspections amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to CoreLogic, detached houses have outperformed units throughout the year, recording clearance rates above 80 per cent for consecutive weeks.

However, the group said this last week was the first week where the preliminary clearance figure fell below 80 per cent, with 79.6 per cent of houses recording a sold result, compared with the 74.7 per cent of units that sold last week.

Auction volumes fell in Melbourne with 925 auctions held in the city, with a preliminary clearance rate of 76.1 per cent.

This compares with 1,221 auctions held the previous week, recording a preliminary clearance rate of 78.1 per cent, later revising down to a final clearance rate of 77.3 per cent.

The dip in volumes and clearance rate coincided with a 108.9 per cent increase in new listings and a 9.3 per cent increase in the number of total listings in Melbourne over the last 12 months.

Over the same week last year, there were only 144 auctions in Melbourne, with a final clearance rate of 27.9 per cent.

There were 777 auctions held in Sydney last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 82.1 per cent.

Last week there were 919 Sydney auctions with a preliminary clearance rate of 84.8 per cent (later revised to 81.5 per cent), while a year ago, there were only 192 auctions with a 50.9 per cent final success rate.

There was an 81.8 per cent surge in new listings over 12 months in Sydney, but total listings declined by 9.3 per cent over the past 12 months, according to CoreLogic figures.

Across the capital cities, Canberra once again recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate of 97.7 per cent across only 55 auctions, while Brisbane recorded a 76.2 per cent preliminary clearance rate across 105 auctions and Adelaide recorded a 72.5 per cent preliminary clearance rate across 167 auctions.

New property listings surged by 95.9 per cent across the combined capital cities but total listings declined by 10.9 per cent.

Home values across the combined five capital cities increased by 5.7 per cent over the past 12 months, while year-to-date, they have increased by 7.2 per cent, CoreLogic figures revealed.

In the past week alone, home values have increased by 0.5 per cent, while values recorded a 1.7 per cent monthly increase.

Meanwhile, while housing finance activity dipped by 1.5 per cent month-on-month nationally, Victoria and South Australia have recorded an uptick in activity, increasing by 7.2 per cent and 5.2 per cent month-on-month, respectively.

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[Related: Auction volumes recover from Easter lull]

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.