Sydney holds almost 700 auctions in lockdown

CoreLogic’s auctions summary report for the week ending 1 August has revealed that there were 685 homes taken to auction in Sydney even as the Greater Sydney region (including the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour) remains in lockdown due to the latest coronavirus outbreak.

CoreLogic noted that Sydney has remained “rather resilient” despite the prolonged lockdown.

The city returned a preliminary clearance rate of 80.8 per cent last week, which represents an improvement on the 74.8 per cent preliminary clearance rate recorded the previous week, with final figures at 72.8 per cent across 585 auctions.

Of the results collected so far for the week ended 1 August, 14.0 per cent were withdrawn, which is lower than the previous week’s 21.0 per cent.

The number of properties sold prior to auction increased last week compared to the previous week. Of the sold results, 64.5 per cent were sold prior to the auction event last week, which is higher than the 58.1 per cent of sold priors last week.

Across the combined capital cities, there were 1,806 auctions held, which was down from the 2,077 homes originally scheduled to go to auction last week as a portion was rescheduled to a later date.

The preliminary clearance rate stood at 79.2 per cent, which is higher than the previous week’s 74.8 per cent preliminary clearance rate, which later revised down to 73.0 per cent at final results across 1,728 auctions.

One year ago, a lower 1,154 auctions were held with a final success rate of 58.7 per cent.

In Melbourne (where restrictions have loosened after the city went into a snap lockdown) 679 homes were taken to auction last week, recording a preliminary clearance rate of 77.1 per cent.

This was significantly higher than the 71.9 per cent preliminary figure the previous week when the city was in lockdown, which revised down to 70.8 per cent at final figures across 772 auctions.

One year ago, 357 auctions took place, with a final clearance rate of 55.1 per cent.

Across the smaller markets, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate of 92.1 per cent (across 121 auctions) followed by Adelaide at 82.5 per cent (across 118 auctions). Brisbane held 184 auctions and recorded a 74.8 per cent preliminary clearance rate.

Capital city home values have continued to surge significantly across the combined five capital cities (excluding Hobart and Darwin), with values rising by 14.0 per cent year-to-date, and 15.0 per cent over the last 12 months.

The CoreLogic Daily Home Value Index recorded a weekly rise of 0.4 per cent and a monthly rise of 1.4 per cent in values.

CoreLogic has simultaneously released its Hedonic Home Value Index that has found that home values spiked by 16.1 per cent over the past 12 months, the fastest annual growth rate since February 2004. Over the past seven months, values have risen by 14.1 per cent.

The number of new property listings across the combined capital cities has increased by 5.8 per cent in the last 12 months. However, last year’s COVID-19-related restrictions have continued to dampen total listings, which have fallen by 18.0 per cent over the last 12 months.

Mortgage market activity rose by 8.8 per cent nationally month-on-month, with every state recording an increase.

Western Australia led the states with a 17.5 per cent spike in activity, followed by Victoria (up 15.6 per cent), Queensland (up 7.9 per cent), and Tasmania (6.7 per cent). Growth levels were more subdued in South Australia (up 3.2 per cent) and NSW (up 2.5 per cent).

[Related: Owner-occupied lending surges by $13bn: APRA]

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.