It was a tale of two auction markets in Sydney and Melbourne — while the former recorded its busiest week since April, the latter continue to struggle with the lockdown restrictions, according t0 CoreLogic.
Melbourne recorded its lowest number of auctions since May. Over the weekend, only 167 auctions took place, of which less than half turned to a sale. The city's low clearance rate was due to the high level of withdrawals over the weekend. Meanwhile, close to 90% of homes that were successfully sold went off the market before the auction date.
"The high withdrawal rate against an already low number of scheduled auctions, together with such a high proportion of properties selling prior to the auction event rather than under the hammer, implies vendors have become increasingly reluctant to test the market through the lockdown period," said Jade Harling, an analyst at CoreLogic.
On the other hand, Sydney hosted 730 auctions over the weekend, which returned a 74% preliminary clearance rate. This was Sydney's busiest weekend for auctions since April.
"In stark contrast to Melbourne, the number of auctions across Sydney has been consistently trending higher, with this week's auction volume," Harling said.
Across the small markets, Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 83.9% but Canberra reported the busiest market with 79 auctions.
The table below shows how the auction markets in capital cities performed over the weekend:
