Clearance rates continue to trend lower

While it may be lower than the highs seen earlier in autumn, it’s still a turnaround from the situation seen one year ago, when 60.4 per cent of 417 auctions recorded a successful result due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

According to CoreLogic, the final clearance rate has held at or above 77.0 per cent for all but one of the last 15 weeks, so “it will be interesting to see how the clearance rate holds up as the remaining results are collected over the next few days”.

Zooming in on the capital cities, Canberra emerged with the highest preliminary clearance rate of 86.5 per cent, followed by Sydney with 80.6 per cent, Adelaide with 79.6 per cent, Melbourne with 77.6 per cent, Brisbane with 63.6 per cent and Perth with 68.8 per cent.

Of the capital cities, only Adelaide and Perth saw a week-on-week increase, while Melbourne remained stable.

With clearance rates trending lower, Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) CEO Tim McKibbin said that “waiting is really the best option, given current conditions”.

“We expect more of the same activity-wise this week, but discussions around issues like taxation and affordability can be expected to intensify in coming weeks and months.

“Though clearance rates for Sydney auctions have eased slightly in recent weeks, they have consistently sat at or above 80 percent this year, and this week should deliver something similar. Volumes in recent weeks have held steady,” according to the CEO.

Melbourne recorded the highest number of auctions at 1,286, followed by Sydney with 1,111 – both lower than last week’s figures.

Other capital cities have far fewer auctions recorded, with Adelaide at 158, Brisbane at 147, Canberra at 117, Perth at 23 and Tasmania at three.

Home values

Looking at the weekly change in home values, CoreLogic pointed to a 0.5 per cent growth in combined capital city values over the week ending 9 May 2021, with Sydney leading the charge at a 0.6 per cent per cent rise, followed by Brisbane with 0.5 per cent, Melbourne with 0.4 per cent and Adelaide with 0.3 per cent and Perth with 0.2 per cent.

Month-on-month, the data saw Sydney maintain its lead with a 2.7 per cent increase, followed closely by Brisbane with 1.7 per cent, Adelaide with 1.6 per cent, Melbourne with 1.5 per cent and Perth with 0.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, year-to-date changes pointed to Sydney still winning the race, further widening its gap from other capital cities with a rise of 11.6 per cent. Brisbane followed with 8.1 per cent, then Melbourne with 7.7 per cent, Perth with 6.7 per cent and Adelaide with 6.5 per cent.

Over the most recent four-week period, Sydney and Canberra clocked the highest capital city private treaty median price for houses at $895,500 and $830,000, respectively. Sydney also held the pole position for units, with a private treaty median of $647,750, while Melbourne followed with an average figure of $557,500.

On the other hand, Adelaide was the most affordable capital city for houses and units, with the private treaty median prices sitting at $500,000 and $360,000, respectively.

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 and Hobart at 26 days, followed by Adelaide with 30 days, Melbourne with 31 days, Brisbane with 33 days and Perth, Darwin and Canberra with 35 days.

For units, Hobart and Darwin recorded the lowest number at 27 days, while Brisbane was the highest at 50 days, followed by Melbourne (41), Canberra (38), Perth (37), Sydney (36) and Adelaide (36).

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