Fewer bright auction results signals tougher sellers' market ahead in 2018

Weekend auction volumes decreased across the capital cities as the extended Christmas break nears.

There are just a handful of auctions scheduled for next Saturday, December 23.

The penultimate pre-Christmas auction weekend saw a preliminary national auction clearance rate of 64.2 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

The rush of vendors who hopefully thought that buyers needed to buy something before the end of the year and were willing to pay ‘anything’ were increasingly mistaken, as the market changed gears from the intensity of early 2017.

Sydney especially looks set to finish the year with an auction clearance rate in the 50s, and even dipping into the high 40s in some regions.

The number of homes taken to auction nationally fell to 2,865 auctions, down on the prior weekend's 3,371 auctions.

The nation's top auction offering was in Brighton with a four bedroom house at 12 Cole Street but which was passed in on a $5.5 million vendor bid.

It had been listed with $5.95 million to $6.44 million hopes, but now comes listed at $5.95 million.

It was a contemporary Steve Domoney Architecture-designed home where the four-bedrooms hugged a Zen-inspired courtyard garden and pool, also accessed from living and dining zones. It came with a two-room Gaggenau kitchen, and a four-room parents’ wing. 

Melbourne's highest sale was $3,825,000 in Carlton.

The four bedroom, one bathroom terrace at 173 Drummond Street had been listed with $3 million to $3.3 million hopes. It last sold in 1983 at $165,000, and before that slightly higher in 1982 at $179,000 before the full effect of Australia's second last recession was felt.

Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market, finished the year off with an auction clearance rate of 67.3 per cent across its weekend 1,628 auctions in a last minute rush to auction.

This time last year, 1,288 properties were taken to auction across Melbourne and a clearance rate of 73.9 per cent was recorded, CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan noted.

Mosman had Sydney's highest weekend auction outcome when 8 Cobbittee Street fetched $3.57 million pre-auction.

It was offered for the first time in 93 years. 

Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate was 60.8 per cent across 690 auctions. Over the same week one year ago, 878 auctions were held across Sydney and a clearance rate of 71.4 per cent was recorded.

Sydney's pre-auction sales with undisclosed prices included the McMahons Point home (pictured) of the retired litigation lawyer Peter Keel, a former Clayton Utz partner, and his wife Angela.

They had listed their McMahons Point home for December 16 Stone auction.

It was 1999 when the couple commissioned Jon Johannsen to design the modernism double sandstone residence with five bedrooms. It comes with a pool on the double block.

They bought an 1880s-era terrace in the early 1990s for $420,000, and then added its twin in the late 1990s for $620,000.

Slacks Creek, south of Brisbane, had the nation's cheapest weekend house sale.

The two bedroom 44 Atkinson Street home on 600 sqm fetched $285,000 through Ray White.

It had sold at $267,000 in 2010.

There were 196 Brisbane weekend auctions with a clearance rate of 54.8 per cent, compared to a year ago when there were 234 auctions with a success rate of 42.6 per cent.

Adelaide finished the auction year with the strongest weekend clearance rate of the capital cities, at 70.1 per cent, with 107 reported results across a total of 152 scheduled auctions, increasing on last weekend’s 65.2 per cent and the 58.4 per cent one year ago.

Adelaide's results included a three bedroom at 3 Veronica Crescent, Lockleys sold at $581,000, exceeding what it had been tipped by Belle Property to sell between $490,000 and $530,000.

But a three bedroom at 68 Wheaton Street, South Plympton sold prior for $586,000, fell short of its price guidance which was $599,000 to $649,000.