Winter and school holidays affect auction volumes: RP Data's national auction preview

There are 1,651 auctions scheduled across Australia this week. Across the capital cities there are 1,322 auctions expected compared to 1,029 to the same period last year.

Generally, the first two weekends in July is the midyear low point of the national auction market, all brought about by cooler weather and school holidays which combine to create a lull in the market. Buyers experiencing difficulty in finding an appropriate home for sale right now will find that by the end of August volumes should be around double what they currently are.

• In Sydney there are 558 auctions expected compared to 861 last week. The clearance rate for the first six months of this year was 74.4% indicating the market has been slightly below trend for the last month.
• In Melbourne there are 497 auctions scheduled compared to 811 last week. The clearance rate for the first six months of the year has been 67% with the past three weeks showing an improvement to trend.
• Brisbane is expecting 115 auctions following 153 last week.
• Adelaide is expecting 75 auctions compared to 79 last week.
• Canberra has 38 auctions scheduled compared to  35 last week.
• Perth has 30 auctions compared to 39 last week
• There are nine auctions scheduled in Tasmania.

Across Australia, the highest number of auctions is expected in St Kilda (VIC) and Surry Hills (NSW), each of which has 10 scheduled.

Melbourne auction preview

There are 497 auctions scheduled this week in Melbourne compared to 453 for the same time last year.

Across the city, the number of homes listed for auction is temporarily impacted by the school holidays, especially in the eastern suburbs. Interestingly, the private sale market in those suburbs is recording very healthy results.

Eastern suburbs comprises of a majority of the top 10 suburbs ranked by vendor discounting for houses sold by private sale over the most recent 12 month period. For example, Oakleigh, Bayswater North, Box Hill, Ashwood and Box Hill South all recorded an average vendor discount of less than 3%, well below the majority of other suburbs in Melbourne.

This is reflective of the city-wide private sale market more recently.

The average time on market for houses sold over the last month may have risen slightly to 35 from 34 days, however, vendors did not suffer as their average discounting contracted to -5.3 from -5.6% over the previous week.

Key data

• Clearance rate week ending 29 June: 68.3%
• Melbourne auctions expected week ending 6 July: 497
• Melbourne private sales time on market week ending 29 June: 35 days (houses)
• Melbourne vendor discounting market week ending 29 June: -5.3% (houses)
• Listings being prepared for market are 0.8% higher in month ending 29 June (seasonally adjusted)