Melbourne, Sydney weekend auctions hit roadblock

Melbourne, Sydney weekend auctions hit roadblock
Staff ReporterDecember 7, 2020

Weekend Sydney auctions are lower than previous weeks with Melbourne recording the year’s lowest auction clearance rate of 76.6 percent.

The clearance rate in Sydney for the weekend cam in at 75.9 percent, lower than the previous weekend’s 76.9 percent according to Domain's Andrew Wilson.

He said in Sydney, weekend results could still be considered a strong one for sellers, but record numbers of May listings have clearly acted to cool the red-hot autumn results of recent months.   

"Fittingly Sydney is heading into winter on a cooler note, recording a clearance rate of 75.9 percent on Saturday which was lower than the previous weekend’s 76.9 percent," he said.

"Sydney recorded a run of lower clearance rates over May, with no weekends making it over the 80 percent mark, unlike the previous three months when these boom-time results were plentiful.

"Weekend clearance rates averaged 76.4 percent over May which is down on the 79.5 percent averaged over April. 

"Recently lower clearance rates have clearly been influenced by a record-breaking flood of listings deluging the local market as sellers rushed in to take advantage of the still robust market conditions. 

"Sydney has averaged 735 auctions over each weekend in May, which is clearly a record for the month, with the previous high of 702 set over May 2015. The winter market begins next weekend with a June record of nearly 800 homes listed for auction.  

"After record numbers of listings being auctioned every weekend, Melbourne’s market had to hit a roadblock eventually.

"Over the weekend Melbourne recorded the year’s lowest auction clearance rate of 76.6 percent.

"The previous weekend recorded 79.7 percent, while over the same weekend last year the clearance rate was 75.2 percent.

 "A flood of late autumn listings is clearly impacting the local market providing buyers with more choice and sellers with more competition as they try to capitalise on strong conditions.

"On Saturday 1143 homes were listed for auction in Melbourne which was just above the previous weekend’s 1113 auctions and well ahead of the 1067 listed over the same weekend last year.

"Saturday’s auction numbers were the second highest ever recorded for a May weekend and just below the all-time record of 1147 set on May 31 2014.

"Melbourne has averaged 959 auctions over each weekend in May which is clearly a record for the month with the previous high of 927 set over May 2015.

"The winter market commences next weekend with a June record of nearly 1050 homes listed for auction."

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