Australia sees busiest auction week since Easter
Last week, the combined capitals experienced a surge in auction activity, surpassing the previous week's numbers, according to new data from CoreLogic.
With a total of 2,550 homes auctioned, it became the busiest week for the combined capitals since before Easter. Although originally expected to be the busiest auction week of the year so far, around 200 auctions were rescheduled while 184 (9.5%) were withdrawn from the auction.
The week-on-week increase in auction activity was accompanied by a 1.9-percentage-point rise in the preliminary clearance rate, CoreLogic reported. Out of the 1,933 results collected so far, 72% recorded a successful outcome. This increase comes after the combined capitals experienced the lowest preliminary clearance rate in 20 weeks the previous week (70.1%, revised to 64.4% at final figures). Comparatively, this time last year, due to various public holidays, only 1,316 homes were auctioned with a final clearance rate of 60%.
In Melbourne, auction activity rebounded with 1,038 homes being auctioned, marking a 5.7% increase from the previous week. Notably, this was the first time in four weeks that auction numbers exceeded 1,000, according to CreLogic. These figures were more than seven times higher than the volume of auctions from the same period last year (130), when public holidays led to an extended weekend. Melbourne's preliminary clearance rate also experienced a slight increase, surpassing the 70% mark for only the second time in five weeks. Out of the 838 results collected, 70.5% returned a positive outcome. The previous week's clearance rate was 69.6% (revised to 63.3% at final numbers), while this time last year, 64.6% of auctions were successful.
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Sydney hosted 978 auctions, up from 927 the previous week and 807 during the same period last year. Of the 777 results collected, 74.4% were successful, marking Sydney's highest preliminary clearance rate in four weeks. The increase in clearance rate was driven by both buyers and vendors, with the withdrawal rate and the percentage of properties passed in at auction decreasing to 12.9% and 12.7% respectively. The previous week's preliminary clearance rate of 72.5% was 1.9 percentage points lower and marked Sydney's lowest preliminary result since early August. Last year, 61.3% of Sydney auctions achieved a successful outcome.
Smaller capitals
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane and Adelaide had their busiest auction week of the year so far. Brisbane auctioned 237 homes, while Adelaide auctioned 174.
Adelaide maintained its position as the smaller capitals' leader in terms of preliminary clearance rate for the 14th consecutive week, with a rate of 84.1%. Brisbane followed closely at 70.3%.
Canberra had 102 homes auctioned, with 57.1% recording a successful result. Conversely, only five out of the 20 homes auctioned in Perth achieved a successful outcome. Lastly, the lone home scheduled for auction in Tasmania was withdrawn.
Looking ahead, capital city auction numbers are anticipated to decrease by nearly half this week due to long weekends in five out of the seven cities.
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