Preliminary clearance rates falter as auction activity continues to rise
After dipping -0.5% the week prior, auction activity across the combined capitals rose 2.6% last week, with 2,334 capital city homes taken to auction. With auction numbers rising or holding steady across five of the seven capitals, last week overtook the week ending 2nd September (2,286) as the capital's busiest since early April and the third busiest of the year to date. The previous week saw 2,275 homes auctioned, while this time last year, 2,203 homes went under the hammer.
Driven by an increase in the withdrawal rate (10.1%), the combined capital's preliminary clearance rate fell to its lowest point in 20 weeks, with 70.1% of the 1,821 results collected so far returning a successful result. While down 1.6 percentage points compared to the previous week's preliminary clearance rate (71.7% revised to 65.8% at final numbers), last week's preliminary result is still 10.0 percentage points higher than the final result recorded this time last year when 60.1% of auctions were successful.
Capital City Auction Statistics (Preliminary)
Sydney also hosted its busiest auction week since before Easter, with 941 homes auctioned across the city, up 4.8% from the week prior (898). At 72.5%, Sydney's preliminary clearance fell to its lowest rate in six weeks, falling 90 basis points compared to the previous week (73.4%, revised to 67.0%). The dip was primarily driven by vendors, with 15.8% of the 748 results collected so far withdrawn from the market, up from 10.4% the week prior. On the flip side, the portion of properties passed in at auction (11.8%) fell to its lowest rate since late October 2021 (11.5%). This week last year, 772 auctions were held across Sydney, and a final clearance rate of 57.1% was reported.
Capital City Auction Statistics over time
Melbourne's auction numbers dipped below the 1,000 mark for the first time in four weeks, with 982 homes taken to auction last week. One of the two cities that recorded a decline in week-on-week numbers, Melbourne's auction activity was -3.3% lower than the week prior (1,016) and -2.6% below the numbers seen this time last year (1,008). With 789 results collected to date, Melbourne's preliminary clearance dipped back below the 70% mark, falling -1.9 percentage points to 69.6% last week. The previous week's preliminary clearance rate (71.5%) was revised to 65.5% at final numbers, while this time last year, a final clearance rate of 62.4% was recorded.
Across the smaller capital cities, weekly auction activity rose across Brisbane (31.1%) and Canberra (14.6%), held steady across Perth, and fell in Adelaide (-3.1%). Brisbane was the busiest market among the smaller capitals last week, with 173 homes auctioned, followed by Adelaide (123) and Canberra (102). Adelaide recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate across the smaller capitals, with 83.8% of auctions reporting a successful result, followed by Brisbane (64.7%) and Canberra (50.6%). In Perth, one of the four results collected so far were successful, while no auctions were held in Tasmania last week.
Capital City Auction Statistics (Preliminary)
The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
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Meet Kaytlin Ezzy
Economist
As an economist, Kaytlin is a key member within CoreLogic’s research team. Highly efficient and flexible, she specialises in collating large and customised data sets, data visualisation and residential data reports.
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