Last weekend auction hurrah before winter hibernation?

The great Sydney weather and the five Saturdays in May before the June long weekend, have all assisted the record auction listing volumes.

And while there has been some buyer caution, certainly more evident than pre-Easter, the buyers have still put their hands up so that there have been record sales.

The have mostly maintained the revised auction clearance rate in the 70s.

It was running in the 80s pre-Easter especially on the preliminary results.

With bidding a little more cautious, the price growth has slowed a bit too.

Price are still rising, at around 2% a quarter, so down on the 15% annual rate of last year for Sydney.

One of the continued strong points has been the Chinese and Australian/Chinese buying.

It's remained especially strong in the off the plan offerings, and there are continued pockets of intensity in some established home markets, but I don't sense it is in the first home buyer segment.

This weekend is possibly the last big hurrah before the traditional winter hibernation. There are some 888 offerings, according to Australian Property Monitors.

Dr Andrew Wilson, the APM senior economist, notes Sydney’s inner west will host the most number of auctions this weekend with 160 followed by the city and east with 120.

The most popular suburbs listed for auction at the weekend in Sydney are Mosman on the lower north and Epping on the upper north shore, each with 12 homes scheduled to go under the hammer.

Next most popular is Randwick in the city and east, Blacktown in the west, Chatswood on the upper north shore, Maroubra in the city and east and Alexandria in the inner west each with 11 homes listed for auction.

"Sydney will record its hottest ever autumn selling season with significantly more properties auctioned and sold over the first five months of this year compared to the same period in any other year," he advised.

The Sydney volumes have been at 100% higher than the same weekends last year on at least two weekends.

Sydney agents more than ever have been running campaigns this year urging vendors to consider winter listing.

They seem to have at least succeeded for the next fortnight as the long weekend has 380 scheduled auctions, which is 50% up on last year. 

Then some 570 offerings on the 14 June weekend, which is 25% busier than the same weekend last year.

Melbourne hasn't been too dis-similar although overcoming its early autumn waning, Melbourne's clearance rate is on the rise and the volumes have been running at around 50% higher listings  than last year.

However Melbourne’s weekend auction market will smash three records this weekend as the autumn selling season reaches a grand finale crescendo.

This weekend’s Super Saturday of auctions has 1,159 properties scheduled to going under the hammer which will be the third highest weekend for auctions this year, according to Dr Wilson.

"This year will not only break the record for the highest number of auctions ever conducted in the Melbourne metro area over a May with 4,450 listed, but will also likely break the record for the most number of auction sales recorded in the month of May.

"Melbourne has conducted more auctions over the first five months of this year than over the same period in any previous year," he said.

Melbourne’s inner suburbs dominate this weekend's auction listings with the inner east having 189 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, closely followed by the inner city with 188.

The most popular suburb for auction listings at the weekend in metro Melbourne is Glen Iris and Richmond each with 22.

With 18 auctions are Brighton, Northcote and Camberwell.

APM has 250 scheduled auctions on the long weekend, then 820 so that's slightly busier than the same time last year.

Picture courtesy of Tim J Keegan/Flickr/Creative Commons.