Third strongest combined capital city clearance rate on record: Shana Miller

This week there were 2,419 capital city auctions held and the preliminary clearance rate was 79.0%, a good start to May, following on from last week’s record result (82.3%) across the capital city auction markets, when just 604 auctions were held. 

This week’s preliminary clearance rate is the third strongest combined capital city clearance rate on record, topped only by last week’s clearance rate and the 79.7% recorded in mid-September 2009. At the same time last year, 2,053 homes were taken to auction and the clearance rate was 63.2%.

Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate this week was 81.3%. There were 1,110 auctions held across the city and so far 963 results have been reported. Last week, only 183 Melbourne homes were taken to auction, however demand was still strong, with 86.6% of homes selling.

One year ago, Melbourne’s clearance rate was almost 20 percentage points lower, at 61.9%, while auction volumes were also lower, with 891 auctions held. This week, six out of the nine individual Melbourne sub-regions saw auction clearance rates above the 80% mark. The strongest performer this week was the Outer East region, where, across the 72 results reported, 65 were sold (90.3%).

There were 839 Sydney auctions this week with a preliminary clearance rate of 87.3%, down from 89.7% last week and much higher than the 71.4% from one year ago.

This week marks the 13th week in a row where Sydney’s clearance rate has been above 80%, and based on preliminary results, this is the third week in a row where Sydney’s clearance rate has been recorded at 87% or more. These strong results are no surprise given that one third of Sydney’s individual sub-regions recorded a preliminary clearance rate in excess of 90%.

This week, Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate fell to 49.5% from 61.5% last week and 42.4% at the same time last year. There were 186 Brisbane auctions this week, compared to 41 last week and 142 last year. Across the Gold Coast there were 90 auctions held this week and so far 53 results have been reported with just 17 sales.

In Adelaide 158 auctions took place this week with a clearance rate of 72.5%. In comparison, at the same time last year, 97 Adelaide homes were taken to auction and 62.7% were reported as sold.

A total of 45 Perth homes were taken to auction over the week, up from 12 last week. Based on the preliminary results, Perth’s auction market was relatively soft this week, with just 27.8% of the 18 reported auctions sold so far, compared to 42.9% last week.

In Canberra, the auction clearance rate increased to 81.5% this week, from 71.4% last week.

This week, 15 Tasmanian auctions were reported to CoreLogic RP Data, with 6 sales.