Clearance rates wilt as auction activity ramps up

The spring selling season is gathering momentum, with 2,455 homes taken to auction last week, the highest volume since the first week of June.

Preliminary clearance rates eased off a little through the first two weeks of spring, suggesting demand isn’t quite keeping up with the additional supply of stock coming to market. Continuing the subtle easing seen the week prior, the combined capitals early success rate dipped to 74.8% last week, falling below the 75% mark for the first time in five weeks.

Despite the subtle easing in the preliminary clearance rate, at 74.8%, the early clearance rate is still a strong result, beating the winter average of 72.7%.

Auction activity across Melbourne held above the 1,000 mark for the third week in a row, with 1,273 auctions held across city. Compared to the previous week, last week’s numbers were up 17.3% and was 9.4% higher than the same week last year. Bucking the broader trend, Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate rose to 75.2% last week, up from 73.2% the week prior.

837 homes were taken to auction in Sydney last week, the highest weekly volume since the first week of June, although -4.0% lower than a year ago. At 74.7%, last week was Sydney’s lowest preliminary clearance rate in five weeks, with the early success rate easing for the second week from a recent high of 80.3% in the last week of August.

Brisbane hosted the highest volume of auctions across the smaller capitals, with 148 homes going under the hammer last week, four more than the week prior. While down slightly on the week prior (76.5%), last week was the second week in a row where the preliminary clearance rate has held above the 70% mark at 74.0%.

108 auctions were held in Adelaide last week, the highest volume in thirteen weeks. Based on the results collected so far, 75.4% of auctions have returned a successful result — up from 74.5% the week prior and the city’s highest preliminary clearance rate since the week ending August 17th.

The ACT hosted its busiest week since late May, with 79 homes auctioned last week. 73.3% of results collected so far have sold, up from 71.9% the previous week.

The volume of auctions is set to rise further this week, with around 2,630 homes scheduled to go under the hammer.

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