The number of auctions held fell sharply due to the King’s Birthday long weekend in most states with just 1,397 capital city homes taken to auction last week, down -52.1% from the week prior (2,918). This time last year, 1,317 auctions were held across the combined capitals.
The preliminary auction clearance rate also suffered, dropping to 63.8% last week — the lowest preliminary result so far this year. This is in stark contrast to the previous two weeks where the early clearance rate held at 70% or higher.
The Sydney market, where the preliminary clearance rate came in at 59.9%, was the main drag on the headline result. Outside of the volatile January results, this was Sydney’s lowest preliminary clearance rate so far this year. The weak early success rate disrupts the recent strengthening trend seen across Sydney’s auction market, so it will be interesting to see if the clearance rate revises higher once collection is finalised, or if the trend recovers after the long weekend.
Melbourne maintained its stronger auction conditions, with a preliminary clearance rate of 71.5% last week. While this was the sixth week running where the early clearance rate has been above 70%, it was the lowest preliminary clearance rate for Melbourne since the last week of April.
Historical clearance rates utilise the final auction clearance rate, while the current week is based on the preliminary clearance rate.
Brisbane led the volume of auctions across the smaller auction capitals last week, with 134 properties going under the hammer. At 58.3%, the preliminary clearance rate was the lowest in six weeks.
The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. Cotality, 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.
There were 84 homes taken to auction in Adelaide last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 60.3%, up from 55.4% the week prior, while 51 auctions were held in the ACT, with 54.5% of reported auctions returning a successful result so far.
Cotality, 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.
In Perth, results for six of the seven auctions held last week have been reported so far, five of which were successful, while there were no auctions held in Tasmania.
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Meet Caitlin Fono
Sr Associate, Research Support
Caitlin has spent more than a decade working with property data and analytics in various roles, earning a position on the CoreLogic research team in 2013. As a respected and highly experienced research analyst, Caitlin works with high frequency data sets, regularly updating our widely read auction reporting, weekly activity updates and customised data briefs.
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