Australian auction market to see 2,371 homes head under the hammer

• Auction activity eased slightly from last week's 2,446 auctions.
• Melbourne remains the busiest auction market, with over 1,000 auctions.
• Last week's final clearance rate was 66.1%.

This weekend is set for a slightly quieter auction market, with auction activity falling 3.1% week on week to 2,371 homes heading under the hammer, according to CoreLogic; last week saw 2,446 homes go to auction.

While a mild easing, auction volumes remain elevated on last year’s levels by 36.2%, when 1,741 homes were auctioned.

Source: CoreLogic.

Melbourne remains the busiest auction market, despite a 10.4% drop in auction activity. This time last year, 690 homes went under the hammer.

Sydney is hosting more auctions this week, up 6.5%, with this time last year seeing 664 homes go under the hammer, or a 47.7% rise.

Adelaide takes over from Brisbane as the busiest market among the smaller capitals this week.

Final results for the week ending 8 October

Last week’s auction activity was a strong rebound from the week prior.

The final clearance rate of 66.1% is a 1.7 percentage point rise from the previous week’s 64.4%. CoreLogic’s Kaytlin Ezzy noted that the increase was driven by a mild decrease in the withdrawal rate (from 11.3% to 9.6%), while the proportion of properties passed in at auction held steady at 24.3%.

This time last year, 60.6% of the 1,815 auctions across the combined capitals were successful.

Source: CoreLogic.

According to Ezzy, the rise in Sydney clearance rates was driven by buyers, with the proportion of properties passed in at auction falling 2.5 percentage points to 20.1%, while the withdrawal rate was marginally higher, rising from 13.4% to 14.0%.