Normal volumes of auctions are still a week away as the holidays subside into a distant memory and property buyers are back out in force.

Meanwhile, there has still be a strong start to the year compared to last year's results.

While the number of auctions were on par to this time last year, with the exception of Canberra which saw a leap from 43 to 69 properties, the clearance rates have been noticeably higher.

Nationally, CoreLogic has reported that the first week of auction reporting for 2020 saw 608 capital city homes taken to auction returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 65.5 per cent.

Comparing results from over the same week last year, the combined capital city preliminary clearance rate came in at 47.8 per cent, before revising down to a 42.8 per cent final clearance rate.

Brisbane

Compared to last year clearance rates jumped from 28 per cent to 40.9 per cent for Brisbane.

More widely in the region clearance rates in south east Queensland saw results in excess of 50 per cent.

"This was particularly fueled by strong registered bidder numbers - increased significantly on late 2019," said Justin Nickerson of Apollo Auctions to WILLIAMS MEDIA.

"With a high volume of auctions scheduled for February and March - the overall clearance will be an interesting one to monitor."

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Source: CoreLogic

It is important to note, volumes are significantly lower than what was seen at the end of last year and clearance rates are generally less indicative over periods of such low activity.

Sydney

Sydney returned the strongest preliminary clearance rate of 77.4 per cent across 151 auctions.

This was much higher than this time last year when the clearance rate was 49.5 per cent.

The main areas to hold auctions included the North Sydney and Hornsby areas and the south-west of Sydney.

Melbourne

Further south in Melbourne, a clearance rate of 69 per cent was recorded from 265 auctions reported to the REIV, with 183 selling and 82 being passed in, 37 of those on a vendor bid.

REIV CEO Gil King said the year has started strongly when comparing it to a clearance rate of 44.3 per cent this time last year.

“The auction market in 2020 has kicked off in a flurry on the  Mornington Peninsula with 66 auctions held, a quarter of reported auctions in Victoria, led by Rosebud and Rye with 16 and 10 listings respectively," said Mr King.

"McCrae also recorded a solid 83 per cent clearance rate from 6 auctions.

“Closer to the CBD, Werribee and Craigieburn had 7 and 6 homes go under the hammer.”

Other markets

In the smaller markets Canberra had the highest clearance rate of 70.6 per cent (46.2 per cent last year), followed by Adelaide with 57.4 per cent (43.6 per cent last year) and Perth with 42.9 per cent (15.4 per cent last year).

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