Capital cities see lower clearance rates as volumes decline

In comparison, the previous week saw a higher 3,016 homes taken to auction, which returned a preliminary clearance rate of 78.6 per cent, later revised down to a final figure of 77.2 per cent.

One year ago, only 60.4 per cent of 417 auctions recorded a successful result due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

But although the clearance rate dropped for the fourth consecutive weekend, Archistar’s chief economist, Dr Andrew Wilson, said the market is “still clearly in favour of sellers”.

“Although home auction markets reported more boom-time results at the weekend, clearance rates are now clearly trending lower, impacted by a continuing surge of sellers keen to take advantage of strong buyer competition – while it lasts,” he highlighted.

Zooming in on the capital cities, Canberra emerged with the highest preliminary clearance rate of 87.8 per cent, followed by Sydney with 81.6 per cent, Adelaide with 78.5 per cent, Melbourne with 77.6 per cent, Brisbane with 73.3 per cent and Perth with 60 per cent.

Melbourne recorded the highest number of auctions at 1,330, followed by Sydney with 1,149.

Other capital cities have far fewer auctions recorded, with Brisbane at 169, Adelaide at 132, Canberra at 85, Perth at 24 and Tasmania at three.

According to Dr Wilson’s data, the Northern Beaches was yet again Sydney’s top-performing region at the weekend, followed by the City and East and the Inner West.

“The top reported Sydney auction sale at the weekend was a four-bedroom house at 55 Ocean View Rd Freshwater that sold for $8,800,000. The most affordable home reported sold at auction in Sydney at the weekend was a two-bedroom unit at 4/19 Rawson St Wiley Park that sold for $367,000,” Dr Wilson revealed.

In Melbourne, the top reported auction sale at the weekend was a six-bedroom house at 312 Danks St Middle Park that sold for $7,900,000. On the other end of the scale, the most affordable home was a two-bedroom unit at 8/3 Hampton Pde West Footscray that sold for $312,000.

As for Melbourne’s best-performing regions, they included Melbourne North, followed by the Outer East.