Busiest auction week since late June

There were 2,190 auctions held across the combined capital cities this week, up from 1,918 over the previous week and 1,672 this time last year making it the busiest auction week since late June. Of the results collected so far, 62.5% were successful, up slightly from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 61.7%, which revised down to 59.7%, the highest final clearance rate seen since the week ending 22 May 2022 (61.3). This time last year, 75.1% of auctions were successful.

An early view of auction volumes indicates there will be significantly less activity next week with around 1,400 auctions currently scheduled across the combined capitals. The lower volumes can be attributed to several public holiday long weekends around the country, along with the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne.

There were 996 homes taken to auction in Melbourne this week, up 17.6% from the previous week (847). Of the results collected so far, 64.4% were successful, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous week (63.2%), which revised down to 61.9% at final figures. This time last year, Melbourne was still navigating its sixth lockdown, with the clearance rate negatively impacted at 58.5%.

There were 771 auctions in Sydney this week, up 10.5% from the previous week (698), although down 1.9% from this time last year when 786 auctions were held across the city. Of the results collected so far, 60.2% were successful, down just 40 basis points from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 60.6%, which revised down ever so slightly at final figures (60.0%). Last week’s final clearance rate was the highest the city has seen since the week ending 10th April when 61.7% of Sydney auctions were successful. This time last year, 80.5% of homes taken to auction across the city were sold.

Across the smaller capital cities, Brisbane was the busiest auction market this week with 168 homes taken to auction across the city, followed by Adelaide (132) and Canberra (102). There were 20 auctions held in Perth this week, and just one in Tasmania. Adelaide recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate (75.6%), followed by Canberra (65.8%) and Brisbane (52.8%). In Perth, 10 results have been collected so far, with just three returning a successful result (30.0%), while the one auction held in Tasmania was successful.