The policies aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in Australia have continued to have an impact on auction markets, with serious sellers opting to go the private-treaty route, latest figures from CoreLogic indicate.
Over the weekend, 1,848 homes were scheduled for auction across capital cities, a significant rise from the previous weekend that was affected by the Easter slowdown.
The preliminary clearance rate hit 39.1%, still substantially lower than the average of above 60% prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Of the sold properties, 64% were completed before the auction date.
"As confidence remains low and circumstances uncertain, it's expected that fewer vendors will elect auction as their preferred method of sale and either convert to private treaty method or hold off on selling all together," said Jade Harling, analyst at CoreLogic.
The trend was apparent in Sydney and Melbourne. In Sydney, 60.2% of sold homes were cleared prior to the scheduled auction event. The same thing happened to 73.2% of sold homes in Melbourne.
However, withdrawals have also been common. Around half of the scheduled auctions across capital cities were withdrawn, pulling down the clearance rate.
"Despite the increase in volumes over the week, the existing challenges around new policies banning onsite auctions and inspections are still impeding on activity across the auction market," Harling said.
The table below shows the preliminary auction statistics for each capital city:
