Auction volumes rise to second highest number annually
Capital cities witnessed over 2,200 homes taken to auction over the past week, with clearance rates rising close to 20 per cent over the year.
CoreLogic’s latest Property Market Indicator for the week ending 14 March 2021 found that there were 2,232 auctions held across the capital cities, the second highest number of weekly auctions over the year-to-date.
The higher volumes returned a preliminary auction clearance rate of 83.2 per cent, which was slightly lower than last week’s 84.5 per cent. Houses emerged as the preferred property type, with clearance rates above 80 per cent for the seventh consecutive week, the report noted.
In comparison, the same week last year saw a slightly higher 2,274 auctions, but only 65.3 per cent of the homes were sold.
Looking closer into capital cities, Canberra saw the highest clearance rate at 95 per cent out of 92 auctions held, followed by Sydney with 87.4 per cent of 817 auctions and Adelaide with 87.9 per cent of 101 auctions.
Once the results are finalised, CoreLogic expects Sydney’s sixth consecutive week with over 80 per cent of auctions successful.
Meanwhile, Melbourne saw 80.3 per cent of 1,094 auctions cleared and Brisbane had a 65.2 per cent clearance rate out of 110 auctions held.
In the coming week, even higher auction volumes are set to be seen across markets, with around 2,700 scheduled at the time of writing.
Home values
Looking at the weekly change in home values, CoreLogic pointed to a 0.8 per cent growth in combined capital city values last week, with Sydney leading the charge at a 1.1 per cent rise, followed by Brisbane with 0.6 per cent, Perth and Melbourne both with 0.5 per cent, and Adelaide with 0.3 per cent.
Month-on-month data saw Sydney and Melbourne continue their rebound from a COVID-impacted year, with home values rising 3.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively. Following them are Brisbane (1.8 per cent), Perth (1.5 per cent) and Adelaide (1.0 per cent).
In terms of year-to-date changes, Sydney remained in the lead with a 4.7 per cent increase in home values, followed by Perth with 3.9 per cent, then Melbourne and Brisbane with 3.4 per cent, and Adelaide with 2.2 per cent.
Over the most recent four-week period, Sydney and Canberra clocked the highest capital city private treaty median price for houses at $881,000 and $782,000, respectively. Sydney also held the pole position for units, with a private treaty median of $650,000, while Melbourne followed with an average figure of $560,000.
Perth was the most affordable capital city for houses, with the private treaty median price sitting at $485,000. Meanwhile, Adelaide was the most affordable for units at $340,000.
Private treaty sales represent around 85 per cent of all dwelling sales across the country, according to CoreLogic.
Average time on market for houses was shortest in Sydney at 25 days, followed by Hobart (26), Melbourne and Adelaide (31), Darwin (40) and Brisbane and Canberra (41). Perth had the longest time on market at 42 days.
For units, Hobart recorded the lowest number at 22 days, while Darwin was the highest at 79 days, followed by Brisbane (57), Perth (48) and Melbourne (41).
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