Melbourne auctions strong for long weekend, Sydney retreats

Melbourne reported a strong clearance rate of 80.1 percent over the Queens Birthday long weekend, sharply reversing the weakening trend of the past month according to Domain's Andrew Wilson.

He said this figure was well above the year-low 75.9 percent recorded the previous weekend and well ahead of the 65.8 percent recorded over the same holiday weekend last year.

"The local market hosted typically low numbers of holiday listings at the weekend with just 267 auctions scheduled, which was well below the previous weekend’s 1047 auctions but similar to the 265 conducted over the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend last year," he said.

"The Sydney home auction market tracked back sharply over the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend, continuing the declining trend of the past month

"Though it was a predictably slow weekend, with 407 homes on offer, it was still the most auctions ever held over a Queen’s Birthday public holiday. 

"Sydney recorded a clearance rate of 67.1 percent on Saturday, which was well below the previous weekend’s 74.3 percent and also lower than the 70.4 percent recorded over the same holiday weekend last year, when 284 auctions were held.

"Saturday’s clearance rate was the fourth consecutive decline in weekend results and the lowest rate recorded by the local market since December 2015."