By Caitlin Fono, Research Analyst, CoreLogic Australia.
The combined capital auction clearance rate has continued to fade, falling to 63.9% based on preliminary numbers. This was the lowest preliminary clearance rate since the week ending December 18th 2022 at 55.8%. The result was down from 64.5% a week earlier (revised to 60.6% once finalised).
There were 1,913 auctions held across the combined capitals last week, up from 1,836 over the previous week. The lower numbers last week can be attributed to the Labour Day long weekend in NSW, ACT and SA, along with the King’s Birthday long weekend in QLD.
A low preliminary clearance rate in Sydney was the main drag on the capital city headline result. 62.7% of auctions were successful so far, down from 66.1% over the previous week (revised down to 60.9%) and the lowest early result since the week ending December 18th 2022 (57.6%). Sydney also recorded a sharp drop in auction volume, with only 524 homes going under the hammer as the market took a breather for the labour day long weekend.
64.4% of Melbourne auctions were successful last week, a step up from the 56.7% of auctions that cleared a week earlier (revised higher to 57.0%), but still the fourth lowest preliminary clearance rate so far this year. The volume of auctions rose to 1,059 after dropping sharply over the previous week due to the grand final long weekend.
Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane hosted the most auctions, with 152 homes taken to market, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 61.0%, up from 55.0% the week prior (revised down to 51.9%). 129 auctions were held in Adelaide, with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.6%, the third lowest early result so far this year. 38 auctions were held in Canberra, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 51.6%. Perth held 10 auctions with 85.7% returning a successful result so far and only one auction was held in Tasmania.
The number of auctions is set to rise to around 2,600 this week, with more than 1,000 auctions currently scheduled for both Sydney and Melbourne.
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