Auction volumes fell significantly across Australia thanks to the Queen's Birthday long weekend in most states and territories.
"The lower number of auctions held over the long weekend came as no surprise, with many owners looking to hold their auction either before or after to ensure they have a complete campaign, and improve their chances of selling," REINSW Deputy President, Peter Matthews told WILLIAMS MEDIA.
"The clearance rates for the weekend, of the reported auctions, were interesting in Sydney with houses outselling apartments in volume, demonstrating that the upper end of the market remains quite active. These results were also consistent with every state & territory across the country," he said.
Capital city preliminary clearance rates shows little improvement. Auction activity across the capitals were significantly lower as auction volumes fell due to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in most states and territories.
Source: CoreLogic
There were 900 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities, down from 2,281 last week and 1,279 this time last year.
Sydney overtook Melbourne as the busiest city for auctions this week, with 414 homes going under the hammer, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 57.6 per cent, compared to last week when just 47.1 per cent of the 837 auctions were successful, according to CoreLogic.
There were just 276 auctions held in Melbourne this week returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 56.1 per cent, the lowest clearance rate the city has seen since 2012.
“The lower volumes reflected the usual quieter activity on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend," REIV CEO, Gil King, told WILLIAMS MEDIA.
“Just two house sales reached or exceeded $2 million, both in Williamstown. Only one apartment sale - in East Melbourne – fetched over $1.2 million.”
“At the more affordable end of the market, buyers snapped up five houses for less than $500,000. Buyers also found bargains in apartments. Four were hammered down for less than $400,000, with two of them selling under $300,000," he said.
Across the smaller auction markets, preliminary results show that Adelaide was the best performing in terms of clearance rate with a 65.5 per cent success rate across 29 auction results, followed closely by Canberra, where 65.4 per cent of the 26 reported auctions were successful.
"The lower end of the market, particularly apartments, are facing less competition as result of fewer investors fighting it out with first home buyers, resulting in a general softening of prices.
"Whilst money remains cheap, buyers are finding that the process of approvals is taking more time than usual and can affect their ability to compete unconditionally at auction," Mr. Matthews told WILLIAMS MEDIA.
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