Auction levels nationally fall

After three weeks of growth, auction activity dropped Australia-wide as 1,814 homes were put up for auction. Despite not matching the 2,006 auctions held last week — which marked the first time since June that such a figure was reached – this week results trumped those of this time last year, when lockdowns resulted in 1,423 auctions. 

So far, 1,477 results have been returned. Of these, 62.3 per cent have found success, a 3.3 percentage point jump on the 59.1 per cent preliminary clearance rate reported last week. 

Melbourne was the busiest of all the national capitals this past week, with 763 homes auctioned off across the Victorian capital. Despite this figure representing an 8.3 per cent decline on last week’s results, it is a massive 77.4 per cent jump on the 430 auctions held during the same period last year. 

It’s reporting a preliminary clearance rate of 64.7 per cent — a 3.4 per cent increase on last week’s 61.3 per cent clearance rate that revised down to 59.7 per cent. 

Melbourne’s north-east was the city’s most successful subregion, with 70.5 per cent of the 102 auctions returning a successful result, while despite hosting a city-high 123 auctions, the Victorian capital’s inner subregion was its weakest performer with a preliminary clearance of 57.8 per cent registered. 

In Sydney, 695 auctions were held this week — down 10.8 per cent on last week (779) yet up 14.5 per cent on this time last year (607). 

The city is reporting a preliminary clearance rate of 60 per cent, a 3.1 per cent rise on the week prior’s final clearance rate of 51.7 per cent, which had revised down from 56.9 per cent. 

High withdrawal rates are still reported across the NSW capital, with 23.1 per cent of the results collected so far reported as withdrawn, nearly three times as high as Melbourne’s 8.2 per cent. 

The city’s Northern Beaches — which recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 70.3 per cent — was the Harbour City’s most successful subregion, while the North Sydney and Hornsby region was the busiest, hosting 126 auctions. 

Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane was the busiest market this week despite an 8.3 per cent activity decrease, hosting 132 auctions this week with the Queensland capital reporting a preliminary clearance rate of 53.3 per cent. 

Of the 124 homes that went under the hammer in Adelaide, 70.3 per cent were successful, while in Canberra, 66.7 per cent of the 93 auctions held returned a positive result. The national capital was the only city to experience an increase in volume, which jumped 6.9 per cent from the previous week’s levels. 

Activity in Perth dropped from 21 auctions to six, while there was one auction held in Tasmania.

[Related: Clearance rates at lowest since May 2020: Domain]