There were 1,908 auctions held across the combined capital cities this week, down from 2,169 over the previous week and 3,546 this time last year. With 1,501 results collected so far, 59.8% were successful, the first time the preliminary clearance rate has slipped below 60.0% since late August. Last week’s preliminary clearance rate was 2.9 percentage points higher (62.7%), revising down to 60.7% at final figures, while this time last year, 76.8% of reported auctions were successful.

There were 582 homes taken to auction in Melbourne this week as the Melbourne Cup Carnival takes over the city.  The previous week saw 1,163 homes taken to auction across the city, while this time last year, 1,752 auctions were held. Of the 494 results collected so far, 60.7% were successful, down 3.9 percentage points from the previous week (64.6%), which revised down to 62.0% at final figures. Once the remaining results are collected, Melbourne’s final clearance rate will likely slip below 60.0% for the first time since the week ending 28th August (59.7%).

There were 762 auctions in Sydney this week, up from 632 last week. With 637 results collected so far, 62.3% were successful, up 70 basis points from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 61.6%, which revised down to 60.4% at final figures. This time last year, 1,151 homes were taken to auction across the city, and a clearance rate of 76.6% was reported.

Across the smaller capital cities, Brisbane was the busiest auction market this week with 218 homes taken to auction across the city, followed by Canberra (163) and Adelaide (154). There were 28 auctions held in Perth this week, and just one in Tasmania. Adelaide has recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate so far (68.2%), followed by Canberra (59.8%), Brisbane (45.7%) and Perth (38.5%).

We are expecting to see a slight increase in auction volumes week-on-week, with just under 1,950 homes currently scheduled for auction across the combined capital cities this week.

By Caitlin Fono, Research Analyst, CoreLogic.