Boban John
By Caitlin Fono, Research Analyst, CoreLogic Australia
The combined capitals preliminary auction clearance rate continued its gradual fade, coming in at 69.1% last week, down from 69.6% the week prior (finalised at 62.3%) and 3.0 percentage points below the recent high of 72.1% recorded in the last week of February.
From a volume perspective, the number of auctions held bounced back to 2,550 last week, following a step down to 1,572 the week prior due to the long weekends and natural disasters in some states.
Melbourne hosted the most auctions, with 1,227 homes taken under the hammer, up from just 486 auctions the week prior (Labour Day long weekend). 70.3% of auctions have returned a successful result so far, the fifth week running where the preliminary clearance rate has held above the 70% mark.
Sydney also saw the preliminary auction clearance rate hold above 70%, at 71.4%. This was a step up from the prior week (70.7%) and the sixth week running where the early clearance rate has held above the 70% mark. 921 homes went under the hammer last week, marking the third-highest volume of auctions held in a week so far this year, up from 842 the week prior.
Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane held the most auctions, with 171 homes taken to market, up from just 71 the week prior when auctions were impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The preliminary clearance rate came in at 59.0% last week, the highest so far this year.
126 homes were auctioned in Adelaide, with 62.2% reporting a successful result so far. 87 homes went under the hammer in the ACT with a preliminary clearance rate of 57.4% (lowest since the start of February). There were 16 homes taken to auction in Perth, with an early success rate of 81.8%, while just two auctions were held in Tasmania, neither of which were successful
