Auction volumes across the combined capital cities increased 74.5% to 2,234 this week making it the second busiest auction week so far this year. The lower volumes last week (1,280) were largely due to public holiday long weekends in four of the eight states and territories. While auction volumes are up substantially from last week, they are 28.1% lower than this time last year (3,108). Of the 1,656 results collected so far, 68.4% were successful, up 3.4 percentage points from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 65.0%, which revised up to 65.4% at final figures. This time last year, 66.9% of reported auctions were successful.

Melbourne was the busiest auction market this week (1,043) with auction volumes rising above 1,000 for just the second time this year. Last week saw just 360 homes taken to auction, while this time last year, 1,525 auctions were held across the city. Of the 843 results collected so far, 68.7% were successful, up 5.8 percentage points from last week’s preliminary clearance rate (62.9%), which revised down to 62.8% at final figures. This time last year, a clearance rate of 65.9% was recorded across Melbourne.

There were 788 homes taken to auction in Sydney this week, compared to 659 last week and 1,029 this time last year. 73.5% of the 589 results collected so far were successful, up 4.2 percentage points on last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 69.3%, which held firm at final figures. This time last year, 64.8% of reported auctions were successful. Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane held the most auctions (139), followed by Canberra (125) and Adelaide (122). 

In terms of clearance rates, Adelaide was the most successful of the smaller capitals, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 63.3%. Canberra’s preliminary clearance rate came in at 57.5%, while 55.7% of auctions reported in Brisbane so far this week have been successful. In Perth, nine of the 13 results have been collected so far, two of which were successful. Tasmania held four auctions this week, and the three results collected so far were all successful.

Auction volumes are set to rise again next week with just under 2,400 homes currently set for auction across the combined capital cities. Around 1,150 of those auctions are scheduled in Melbourne.

By Caitlin Fono, Research Analyst, CoreLogic