Super Saturday records high property auction clearances despite surge in listings

The auctions market has maintained its strength even though hundreds more listings were added over the weekend, with capitals besting clearance rates from a year ago.

While the spike in listings comes ahead of the Melbourne Cup Day weekend, Australian Property Monitors economist Andrew Wilson says another week with listings above 60% is a testament to the ongoing stability of the property sector – and its eventual recovery.

"The market was able to absorb a greater rate," he says.

"The higher number of listings is a trend that's been growing. This is the sixth consecutive week with auction clearance rates above 60%"

"You would have expected the market to moderate itself, but to get a result like that even with the high number of listings is an encouraging result."

Melbourne recorded 1,053 auctions over the weekend, with 690 selling and 363 passed in resulting in a clearance rate of 66%. That compares to 60% last weekend, and 50% during the same weekend last year.

REIV chief executive Enzo Raimondo said in a statement the result was "very healthy".

"A further sign of the improving sentiment is the increase in residential transaction volumes this spring, with around 9% more auctions being held than at the same time last year."

In Sydney, the city recorded a clearance rate of 67.9% from 524 listed auctions, compared with 61% last week and 54.9% during the same week last year.

It's an encouraging result for the market, which has already been tipped to continue rising over the next several months. Wilson says while there are some developments affecting each city – like a soft premium market in Sydney and failure of interest rate cuts to affect auctions in Melbourne – there is still hope.

"The market has built its own momentum, and there's a lot of activity happening."