Capital city auction activity ramps up
In a sign that capital city auction activity is ramping up after the holidays season, 891 homes have been taken to auction this week, compared with 625 at the same time last year.
According to fresh CoreLogic data, Melbourne has once again emerged as the busiest auction market in terms of volumes, with 388 auctions held across the city, with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 83 per cent.
Sydney followed with 272 auctions but a clearance rate that’s just as impressive at 82.9 per cent.
Compared with the same week last year, both volumes and clearance rates are higher across the two largest markets, with Melbourne recording a 65.8 per cent final clearance rate across 211 auctions and Sydney a 72.9 per cent success rate across 158 auctions one year ago.
Performance varied across the smaller cities, with Adelaide and Canberra both recording preliminary clearance rates above 80 per cent. Perth and Brisbane trailed behind with 66.7 per cent and 55.2 per cent homes sold.
| City | Clearance rate | Total auctions | CoreLogic auction results | Cleared auctions | Uncleared auctions |
| Sydney | 82.9% | 272 | 205 | 170 | 35 |
| Melbourne | 83.0% | 388 | 288 | 239 | 49 |
| Brisbane | 55.2% | 50 | 29 | 16 | 13 |
| Adelaide | 83.7% | 89 | 43 | 36 | 7 |
| Perth | 66.7% | 15 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Tasmania | n.a. | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Canberra | 84.4% | 75 | 45 | 38 | 7 |
| Weighted average | 81.1% | 891 | 617 | 503 | 114 |
CoreLogic is confident the number of auctions will rise further, providing a timely test of the market’s depth.