There were 1,107 capital city homes taken to auction this week, of the 841 results collected so far, 70.5% were successful results. This week’s preliminary figure is down on the 72.4% preliminary figure last week, which later revised down to 67.6% by final collection. Last week’s clearance rate was the highest final clearance rate since early March. This time last year, a higher 1,278 capital city homes were auctioned with a final clearance rate of 71%.
The performance across the two largest capital cities remains mixed. Melbourne continued to record very subdued levels of activity, while Sydney volumes reached their highest level since the first week of April.
While volumes remained extremely low across Melbourne, there was a slight rise in the number of homes scheduled to go under the hammer this week. There were 60 auctions scheduled across the city, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of only 28.6%. Of the 49 results collected so far, 31 were withdrawn from the market or 63%. Of the 14 properties that did sell, 93% sold prior to auction. While volumes did increase over the week, the high withdrawal rate, and high proportion of properties selling prior to the auction, suggest vendors remain reluctant to test the market through the lockdown period.
There were 815 Sydney homes taken to auction this week, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 74.8%. This was an improvement on last week’s preliminary figure of 72.4% which later revised down to 67.5% at final collection.
In contrast to Melbourne, the number of auctions across Sydney has been consistently trending higher, with this week’s volumes the highest recorded since April. One year ago, a higher 950 Sydney homes were taken to auction returning a higher final success rate (74.5%).
Across the smaller capital city markets, Canberra recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 84.9%, the highest of the smaller cities, Adelaide wasn’t far behind with 77.3% of homes selling at auction over the week.