Auction market sees second-busiest week in 2021

Auctions figures from property research group CoreLogic for the week ending 9 May revealed that auction volumes increased week-on-week, with 3,033 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities last week, making it the second-busiest week for auctions this year.

The higher volumes resulted in a lower preliminary clearance rate of 78.6 per cent (compared with a preliminary clearance rate of 80.4 per cent and revising down to 77.7 per cent across 2,902 auctions the previous week), CoreLogic reported.

One year ago, when COVID-19-related restrictions around onsite property inspections and auctions were still in place, there were 480 auctions held across the combined capitals, with a success rate of 59.9 per cent.

CoreLogic’s analysis of the preliminary figures showed that detached houses are outperforming units, with 80.9 per cent of houses recording a sold result so far from last week’s auctions, compared with 71.1 per cent of units.

In Melbourne, 1,420 homes were taken to auction over last week, up from 1,310 over the previous week and only 163 this time last year.

Victoria’s capital city retuned a preliminary clearance rate of 76.5 per cent, down from the previous week when a 77.1 per cent preliminary clearance rate was recorded (which revised down to 75.1 per cent at final figures).

There were 1,157 auctions held in Sydney last week, up from 1,119 auctions over the previous week and 216 this time last year.

The capital city returned a preliminary clearance rate of 82.6 per cent, down from the previous week’s rate of 83.5 per cent, which revised down to 80.2 per cent at final figures.

Across the smaller auction markets, Canberra recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 85.5 per cent across 93 auctions, followed by Adelaide at 77.0 per cent across 137 auctions and Brisbane at 72.0 per cent across 196 auctions. Perth held only 28 auctions, with a preliminary clearance rate of 47.8 per cent.

Home values continue upward trend

CoreLogic data also revealed that home values across the combined five capital cities (excludes Darwin and Hobart) recorded a 0.5 per cent weekly increase and a 1.9 per cent monthly increase.

The figures – which are based on the CoreLogic Daily Home Value Index – also showed that year to date, home values spiked by 8.2 per cent, while they increased by 6.8 per cent over the last 12 months.

Meanwhile, new property listings have increased by 123.9 per cent over the last 12 months across the combined capital cities, with Melbourne listings rising by 142.2 per cent and Sydney listings rising by 108.2 per cent.

However, the number of total listings dropped by 5.8 per cent over the last 12 months, which CoreLogic attributed to the impact of the COVID-19-related restrictions imposed in 2020, CoreLogic data showed.

National housing finance activity increased by 6.0 per cent month-on-month, with NSW, South Australia and Victoria recording the largest increases in activity at 8.7 per cent, 8.6 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively.

While activity rose by 2.6 per cent in Tasmania, and 1.5 per cent in Queensland, Western Australia was the only state to record a decline in mortgage activity (down 2.6 per cent), according to CoreLogic.

[Related: Australian housing now worth over $8 trillion]

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.