Grand Finals and long weekend celebrations overshadowed auction activity through the week ending September 30 as auction numbers significantly declined across the combined capital cities.
CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator Summary showed that only 889 auctions were held in the capitals that week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 49.1% – marking the first time since December 2012 that preliminary combined capitals clearance rate reached below 50%.
One week earlier, the clearance rate came in at 52.4% over 2,404 listed homes, hitting the highest level since April.
Year-over-year, the numbers are significantly lower compared to the 969 homes that were taken to auction in the same period in 2017. For the completists, that week saw a returning clearance rate of 66.3%.
Auction headliner Melbourne saw the most significant drop in volumes this week, with only 69 homes taken to auction – resulting a preliminary auction clearance rate of 55.6% – a drastic drop from the 1,161 auctions held the week before. It must be noted, though, that the prior week’s clearance rate was lower (53.8%).
This time last year, 122 auctions were held across the city, returning a clearance rate of 87%.
Sydney, On the other hand, saw 601 homes go under the hammer. Although higher than Melbourne, the numbers were down from 851 auctions in the New South Wales capital over the previous week. It follows that the preliminary clearance rate also dropped to 49.2% from 51.1% over the same period. In 2017, 607 auctions were held and the clearance rate came in at 64.9%.
The most expensive property sold last week was a three-bed, two-bath, and two-car house in Manly, New South Wales (NSW) which sold for $4,100,000. The second-highest sale, meanwhile, was in Burraneer, NSW: a five-bed, three-bath, and two-car house that went for $4 million.
Perth was city with the highest median “time on market” length among houses at 84 days this week. Darwin came next (78 days), followed by Brisbane (67 days).
