Auction volumes slightly slowed last week, with only 2,204 homes across capital cities going under the hammer during the week ending March 3.
CoreLogic report showed that last week’s volumes are lower than the 2,293 auctions from last week, which was the busiest week so far in 2019.
The week’s preliminary clearance rate, meanwhile, was at 55%. The higher volumes in the previous week returned a clearance rate of below 50%.
“As volumes increase, we will see clearance rates trend below this mark. Comparing results to one year ago, volumes are significantly lower than the 3,026 homes taken to auction over the same week in 2018,” CoreLogic said in the report.
The property data provider also said that it is likely that sellers will delay sending their properties to auction while selling conditions are still challenging and year-on-year volumes are set to continue trending downwards throughout the year. This is considering the home price drop recorded in February.
Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market, logged 1,046 auctions last week with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 54.9%. The initial number of successful auctions is higher than the 50.6% final clearance rate the previous week when volumes were higher (1,128).
Sydney recorded 799 auctions returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.3%, — up from the 50.1% final clearance rate the prior week, when 801 Sydney homes were taken to auction.
Adelaide was the best-performing city among the smaller auction markets in terms of clearance rate. Its success rate hit 47.9%, while Brisbane had only 32.9% of homes selling at auction. This makes Queensland’s capital the worst-performing auction market this week.
The report also revealed that the most expensive property bought over the week was a six- bed, three-bath, and two-car house in Clovelly, NSW, which sold for $6,500,000. The second-highest sale, meanwhile, was in Wahroonga, NSW: a five-bed, four-bath, and two-car unit that went for $5,020,000.
Darwin was the city with the highest median “time on market” length among houses at 99 days this week. Perth came second (91 days), followed by Brisbane (90 days).
