- The withdrawal rate increased to 9.9%.
- Melbourne hosted the busiest auction market.
- Properties passed in at auction fell to 18.3%.
Australia’s auction markets continued to pick up the pace, hosting its busiest auction since Easter. The weekend just past was the third consecutive week where auction activity trended higher.
The weekend saw 2,275 homes auctioned, representing an 11.7% rise from last week’s 2,037, and a 13.4% rise on last year’s figure of 2,006, according to CoreLogic
Vendors becoming weary
This week’s preliminary clearance rate dropped 2.0 percentage points (ppt) to 72% from the 1,766 results collected so far.
CoreLogic’s Kaytlin Ezzy noted that the decline was driven by an increase in the withdrawal rate, from 7.3% to 9.9%, suggesting vendors are becoming wearier, while the portion of properties passed in at auction fell from 25.5% to 18.3%.
Last week’s preliminary clearance rate (74.0%) was revised to 67.5% at final numbers, while this time last year, just 55.8% of auctions were successful.
Melbourne played host to over a thousand auctions, however, the preliminary clearance rate dropped 2.8 ppt from last week. The 69.9% preliminary clearance rate is the fourth time in six weeks the rate has dipped below 70%.
Sydney was the second busiest auction market and likewise saw a week-on-week decline in the preliminary clearance rate – down 2.9 ppt to 74.6%.
| City | Clearance rate | Total auctions | CoreLogic auction results | Cleared auctions | Uncleared auctions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 74.6% | 887 | 690 | 515 | 175 |
| Melbourne | 69.9% | 1,045 | 854 | 597 | 257 |
| Brisbane | 70.9% | 122 | 86 | 61 | 25 |
| Adelaide | 88.2% | 127 | 68 | 60 | 8 |
| Perth | n.a. | 11 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Tasmania | n.a. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canberra | 54.8% | 83 | 62 | 34 | 28 |
| Weighted Average | 72.0% | 2,275 | 1,766 | 1,268 | 498 |
Source: CoreLogic.
Across the various subregions, Inner West recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate for Sydney (82%), while South East was the best performer for Melbourne (80.2%).
How have prices changed?
CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator also recorded a weekly increase in home values, between 0.1% and 0.3% rises across the capitals. Similarly, monthly values also rose, between 0.5% and 1.4%.
Year to date, Sydney home values have soared up 7.2%, however, the 12-month rise was a mere 0.7%.
Melbourne recorded the weakest year-to-date increase in home values, just 1.6%, while the 12-month change was -2.5%. The largest drop in 12-month change was Brisbane, down 3.6%.
