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After consecutive falls, the combined capital city auction market has finally seen an improvement across lower volumes and fewer withdrawals.
Latest figures from CoreLogic revealed a sizeable decrease in scheduled combined capital city auction volume to 1,535 in the week ending 5 September – down from last week’s 1,960.
Of the results collected so far, 67.3 per cent were successful – higher than last week’s final clearance rate of 58 per cent, which was the lowest preliminary clearance rate recorded across combined capital cities since late April 2020.
Sydney was the busiest auction market, with 609 auctions held over the week – up from last week’s 592.
The New South Wales capital also bagged the highest preliminary clearance rate at 84 per cent – rising from last week’s final clearance rate of 80 per cent and the highest preliminary clearance rate that the city has seen since mid-April.
“Sydney’s final clearance rate has held above 80 per cent for two of the last three weeks, with this week likely to be no different as the remaining results are collected,” according to CoreLogic research analyst Caitlin Fono.
Meanwhile, Melbourne was the second busiest auction market with 531 homes that went under the hammer – down by over 40 per cent from last week’s 928.
However, in contrast with Sydney, the Victorian capital only saw a 44.5 per cent success rate – up from last week’s 35.9 per cent but still the lowest of all capital cities. Its own withdrawal rate was still high at 57.6 per cent as the city remains in lockdown, though it was considerably lower than last week’s 61.6 per cent
In a previous report, Ms Fono said the divergence in auction clearance rates across Australia’s two largest auction markets could be attributed to the fact that properties can still be physically inspected in Sydney (although a private inspection is limited to one person at a time), but not in Melbourne.
The Victorian government has since announced that it will start to allow private in-person inspections of unoccupied premises for a new purchase or end of lease once the state reaches 70 per cent vaccination rate. This milestone is expected to be reached around 23 September 2021.
Meanwhile, across the smaller auction markets, Brisbane has taken pole position with a preliminary clearance rate of 78.8 per cent out of 157 auctions – beating out Adelaide which saw a slightly lower 75.7 per cent success rate out of 148 auctions.
Canberra followed with 57.4 per cent out of 73 auctions, then Perth with 50 per cent out of 16 auctions.
Overall, only Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane surpassed their final clearance rates from the previous week.
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