Australia’s auction market saw a slight improvement over the third week of July, as both auction volume and clearance rate grew over the week ending on the 22nd.
According to CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator Summary, a total of 1,246 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities during the week, up from 1,178 the previous week. The preliminary clearance rate, meanwhile, was recorded at 60.6%, compared to the finalised clearance rates that have held between 52.0 - 52.6% for the last 3 weeks.
“Although the clearance rate tends to revise down over the week as final results are collected, we still expect there to be a modest improvement week-on-week,” CoreLogic noted.
Melbourne remained the busiest city for auctions, with 612 homes listed. It recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 62.3%, a significant gain compared to last week when 56.2% of the 559 auctions were successful. Over the same week in 2017, there were 833 auctions held in Melbourne, returning a clearance rate of 73.8%.
On the other hand, Sydney saw 400 properties go under the hammer, with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.3%. Over the previous week, the city logged 408 auctions and returned a final clearance rate of just 46.9%, the lowest percentage the city had seen since December 2012. This time last year, 70.3% of the 625 auctions held were successful.
For over a month now, the most expensive homes sold have been in New South Wales (NSW). This week, the priciest property purchased at auction was a five-bed, four-bath, and three-car house in Burraneer, NSW which was bought for over $4.7 million. The second-highest sale was in Centennial Park, NSW: a four-bed, two-bath, and one-car house that went for more than $3.8 million.
Perth held the highest median “time on market” length among houses at 82 days this week. Brisbane came next (67 days), followed by Adelaide (56 days).
Related stories:
Australia's Auction Activity Remains Subdued
June Auction Clearance Rates Decline
