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Auction activity continued to rise, with more homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities.
CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator for the week ended 13 December 2020 saw auction numbers rise to a total of 2,537 homes across the combined capital cities over the past week, an increase on the 2,085 auctions held the week prior. Despite the increase, this is still lower than the 2,804 held over the same week in 2019.
A boost in auction numbers did correspond with a dip in the preliminary clearance rate — from 75.1 per cent last week to 74.6 per cent this week. With last week’s final figures on the combined capital city clearance rate falling to 69.9 per cent, this week’s final result is also expected to be slightly lower than preliminary figures.
Melbourne and Sydney both saw their busiest auction week since early April, with over 1,000 homes taken to auction in each city.
“Typically, auction markets would be winding down after the second week of December. However, this year auction activity is set to remain high leading into the festive period, with CoreLogic expecting around 2,300 auctions to be held over the coming week,” the report noted.
Melbourne saw the preliminary auction clearance rate remain stable under higher auction volumes, with 73.5 per cent of homes selling after a virtually unchanged 73.6 per cent preliminary result last week, which later revised down 67.7 per cent at final collection. There were 1,131 properties auctioned across the city over the week, up from the 899 the week prior, although still far lower than the 1,405 auctions held one year ago.
Sydney, on the other hand, was host to 1,006 auctions this week, up from last week when 867 auctions were held, but higher than the 875 auctions one year ago. A preliminary auction clearance rate of 76.5 per cent was achieved this week, down on the 80.1 per cent preliminary figure for the week before, which later revised down to 74.1 per cent at final result.
Across the smaller markets, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate of 87.2 per cent across 113 auctions, followed by Adelaide with a preliminary clearance rate of 76.1 per cent across 96 results.
Brisbane and Perth followed, with preliminary auction clearance rates sitting at 64.1 per cent and 58.3 per cent, respectively.
Home values
CoreLogic recorded the combined capital city home value growth at 0.2 of a percentage point over the week. Perth led the charge with a 0.4 of a percentage point increase, followed by Adelaide and Melbourne with 0.3 of a percentage point increase, and Brisbane and Sydney with 0.2 of a percentage point increase.
Over the past month, Perth and Adelaide emerged as the winners, with home value growth sitting at 1.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively. Following them were Brisbane and Melbourne with 0.7 of a percentage point increase, then Sydney with 0.5 of a percentage point increase.
In terms of year-to-date change, only Melbourne recorded a decline, at -2.0 per cent. On the other hand, Adelaide recorded a 5.3 per cent increase — much higher than Brisbane with 2.8 per cent, Sydney with 2.2 per cent and Perth with 1.2 per cent.
As to the most recent four-week period, the capital city private treaty median price is highest in Sydney and Canberra for houses at $841,000 and $732,500, respectively. Sydney also holds the pole position for units, with a private treaty median of $645,000, while Melbourne follows with an average figure of $570,000.
Perth was once again the most affordable capital city for houses, with the private treaty median price sitting at $490,000. Meanwhile, Darwin was the most affordable for units at $320,000.
Private treaty sales represent around 85 per cent of all dwelling sales across the country, according to CoreLogic.
Average time on market for houses increased across most capital cities over the week, with the longest recorded in Darwin at 63 days, followed by Brisbane (51), Perth and Canberra (40), Adelaide (35), and Sydney and Melbourne (32). Hobart had the shortest time on market at 28 days.
For units, Darwin also recorded the highest number at 75 days, while Hobart was also the lowest at 28 days.
Vendor discounting for houses was highest in Hobart at -4.1 per cent and lowest in Sydney at -2.1 per cent. For units, vendor discounting was highest in Perth at -4.2 per cent and lowest in Canberra at -1.6 per cent.
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