Auction market continues to rebound from Easter slowdown

These results were higher than last week’s 2,199 auctions and the preliminary clearance rate of 79.4 per cent, which was revised down to a 76.9 per cent by final collection.

Last year, only 30 per cent of homes sold across 1,922 auctions, as most capitals suffered from the repercussions of lockdowns and restrictions on onsite auctions and physical home inspections.

As for how the capitals performed over the past weekend, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary auction clearance rate at 87.4 per cent, followed by Sydney with 84.8 per cent, Adelaide with 82.8 per cent, Melbourne with 78.1 per cent, Brisbane with 72.7 per cent and Perth with 50 per cent.

Melbourne saw the highest number of auctions over the week at 1,204, followed by Sydney with 913, Canberra with 112, Brisbane with 104, Adelaide with 81 and Perth with 30.

Home values

Looking at the weekly change in home values, CoreLogic pointed to a 0.5 of a percentage point growth in combined capital city values over the week ending 18 April 2021, with Sydney and Adelaide leading the charge at a 0.6 of a percentage point rise, followed by Melbourne and Brisbane with 0.4 of a percentage point and Perth with 0.1 of a percentage point.

Month-on-month data saw Sydney maintain its lead with a 2.4 per cent increase. It was followed by Brisbane with 1.9 per cent, Adelaide with 1.8 per cent, Melbourne with 1.5 per cent and Perth with 1.1 per cent.

Looking at year-to-date changes, Sydney has further widened its gap from other capital cities with a rise of 8.1 per cent. Brisbane followed with a 5.8 per cent increase, then Melbourne with 5.7 per cent, Perth with 5.4 per cent and Adelaide with 4.3 per cent.

Over the most recent four-week period, Sydney and Canberra clocked the highest capital city private treaty median price for houses at $875,000 and $816,000, respectively. Sydney also held the pole position for units, with a private treaty median of $665,000, while Melbourne followed with an average figure of $570,000.

On the other hand, Perth was the most affordable capital city for houses, with the private treaty median price sitting at $515,000. Meanwhile, Darwin was the most affordable for units at $354,500.

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 (29), Adelaide (30), Perth (33), Darwin (34) and Canberra (36). Brisbane had the longest time on market at 38 days.

For units, Hobart recorded the lowest number at 21 days, while Brisbane was the highest at 48 days, followed by Melbourne (39), Canberra (37), Sydney (36), Perth (35), Adelaide (33) and Darwin (30).