Australian auction market preliminary clearance rate falls to lowest point in 20 weeks

• The preliminary clearance rate fell to 70.1% for the week ending 17 September.
• Falls were driven by an increased withdrawal rate.
• Withdrawals comprised 15.8% of the results collected so far in Sydney.

Auctions for the week ending 17 September 2023 have returned a disappointing result despite the elevated number of properties heading under the hammer.

The number of properties taken to auction over the weekend was 2,334, representing a 2.6% rise from 2,275, according to CoreLogic. Last week also surpassed the first weekend of spring (2,286) as the busiest weekend since early April and was the third busiest auction weekend of the year to date.  This time last year, 2,203 homes were auctioned.

According to CoreLogic, the preliminary clearance rate was 70.1%, representing a 1.6 percentage point fall from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 71.7%; the final clearance rate for the previous week was 65.8%.

While the rate remains 10 percentage points higher than the final result recorded this time last year (60.1%), the preliminary clearance rate is the lowest point in 20 weeks. This fall was largely driven by an increased withdrawal rate (10.1%).

Preliminary data for the week ending 17 September 2023

Sydney led the charge as the busiest auction market, clocking in 941 homes heading under the hammer.

While auction activity leapt 4.8%, the preliminary clearance rate fell 90 basis points to its lowest in six weeks, at 72.5%.

Withdrawals were also notable, with 15.8% of the 748 results collected so far from the city being withdrawn from the market. This is up from 10.4% in the week prior.

While more vendors chose to take properties off the market, the portion of properties passing in at auction (11.8%) fell to its lowest rate since late October 2021 (11.5%).

Among Sydney’s sub-regions, the Northern Beaches recorded the strongest clearance rates at 88.5% across 67 auctions. Ryde and the Inner West were the next two highest, recording rates of 84.9% and 84.8% respectively.

Melbourne saw activity dip below the 1,000 home mark for the first time in four weeks, with the number of homes heading to auction both below last week’s figures (-3.3%, 1,016) and below the same time last year (-2.6%, 1,008).

The preliminary clearance rate also dropped, now below the 70% mark once again.

For Melbourne’s sub-regions, the strongest performer was Inner East, recording a 76.8% clearance rate across 126 properties. The next strongest was Inner South at 76.2%.

Brisbane (31.1%) and Canberra (14.6%) saw auction activity rise, Perth’s auction market was stable, and Adelaide recorded a 3.1% dip in activity.

Adelaide recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate across the smaller capitals, with 83.8% of auctions reporting a successful result, followed by Brisbane (64.7%) and Canberra (50.6%).

Preliminary data for the week ending 17 September 2023

Source: CoreLogic.