- The reduced auction activity remains above levels at the same time last year.
- Preliminary clearance rates were up 80 basis points from last week.
- A growing number of properties coming to auction are investment homes.
Auction activity in Australia has dropped 11.7%, with 1,742 auctions held across the capital cities, according to CoreLogic.
The reduced number of auctions was expected, with the latest figures down from last week’s 1,973 auctions.
While the week-on-week activity fell, auction numbers remained elevated. This time last year saw 1,471 auctions, and the latest figures are on par with a fortnight ago (1,734).
The preliminary Australian auction clearance rates are 80 basis points above last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 70.2%; the latest preliminary result of 71% comes from 1,320 results collected so far. Last week’s clearance rate was revised to 64.9% at final numbers. This week last year recorded a final clearance rate of 56.6%.
Among notable movements:
- Sydney’s preliminary clearance results dipped to 69.1%, the first time since mid-March figures have been below 70%,
- Sydney saw increased numbers of withdrawals. The latest rate is 16.9%, while last week was 11.9%, and
- Melbourne’s preliminary clearance results are now back above 70% after two weeks of results below 70%.
Drawing a crowd
Ray White similarly saw some 70% of properties sell under the hammer on Saturday, with bidder registrations rising to 4.2.
A large crowd at a Sydney auction saw 7 Heights Crescent, Middle Cove, sell for $4.9 million, with Ray White Willoughby principal, Stewart Gordon, commenting, “It certainly feels like spring.”
Twenty buyers made their presence known at a unit auction in the Brisbane suburb of Wooloowin, selling for $770,000.
Ray White Victoria and Tasmania CEO, Stephen Dullens, observed that many investors are exiting the market, as risk increasingly weighs on their minds.
“Many of these sales were homeowners making the decision to sell their investment property, largely a result of higher costs and an increased perceived risk in the residential real estate investment space.
“Ray White data tells us that across all of our Victorian auctions so far this financial year, we are seeing more than double the number of investors choosing to sell investment properties in comparison to investors who are purchasing.
“This gap has widened significantly compared to both the same period last year as well as the first quarter of this calendar year.
“Ray White manages in excess of 55,000 rental properties across Victoria and we have never seen demand from renters in Melbourne as high as it is right now. There are simply not enough rental properties available to satisfy the demand, and moves that drive negative sentiment towards investing in residential real estate across Victoria is only going to make the situation worse for renters,” added Dullens.
