The CoreLogic Property Market Indicator Summary for the week ending October 28 showed a total of 2,919 homes were taken to auction across the combined capital cities, marking the highest auction volumes since late March.
The number of auctions during the week hiked from the 2,139 seen last week, however the total remained much lower than the 3,713 recorded during the same period in 2017.
Digging deeper, CoreLogic noted that the upcoming Melbourne Cup Carnival pushed the volumes higher during the week – vendors in the city tried to list properties for auction before the carnival slowdown, when volumes will temporarily slide across the capital.
In terms of clearance rates, the week registered an initial 50.2% across the combined capital cities, although it’s likely to decline below 50% for the 5th consecutive week when final results come out. This represents an increase over the preceding week’s 46% and a drop of 64.5% year-over-year.
Melbourne, the busiest auction market, recorded 1,706 auctions this week, the second busiest week for the city all year. Preliminary results revealed a clearance rate of 49.8%, up from last week when only 45.7% of auctions were successful.
Sydney saw 796 homes going under the hammer, up from 675 last week. Its preliminary results, meanwhile, showed a 50.7% clearance rate— up from 44.6% last week. According to CoreLogic, the final auction clearance rate is likely to fall below 50% given that it has been the trend for 4 consecutive weeks now.
Breaking the streak that has been going on for several months, Victoria (Vic) was home to the most expensive property bought last week. It was a four-bed, two-bath, and two-car house in Malvern, which sold for $7,100,000. The second-highest sale, meanwhile, was in Melbourne, Vic: a three-bed, three-bath, and four-car unit that went for $6,000,000.
Perth was still the city with the highest median “time on market” length among houses at 84 days this week. Darwin came next (72 days), followed by Brisbane (64 days).
