Weekend auctions remain resilient, but property prices still patchy

Melbourne was the busiest weekend auction market with 560 auctions, up from 352 auctions, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 53.5 percent.

There were 430 Sydney homes auctioned, returning a preliminary auction clearance rate of 56.1 percent, according to Domain.

The highest priced sale was in Sydney when 2 Gipps Street, Bronte (above) sold for $3,180,000 through Phillips Pantzer Donnelly.

The buyers guide had been $2.95 million.

There had been a nearby pre-auction Bronte sale of $5.5 million at 21 Yanko Avenue.

Domain reported the cheapest notified auction sale was in Melbourne's Melton South.

The three bedroom house at 9 Macquarie Street (below) sold through PRDNationwide Melton for $308,000.

The price guidance had been $275,000 to $295,000.

Positioned on a 580 sqm lot, the home was marketed as offering "fantastic potential to someone who is a professional renovator or the handyman."

"Bring your toolbox, hammer, and paintbrush and get stuck into this great opportunity," agent Cory Cassar said.

Louis Christopher at SQM said next Saturday would see about 780 auctions for Sydney and over 1000 auctions for Melbourne.

"It will be a very large test for the market as we return to normal volume levels," he said.

Canberra returned a preliminary clearance rate of 46 percent, while Brisbane’s preliminary result came in at 38 percent, both down in clearance rates on the prior weekend.

Adelaide was the top performing market with a 69 percent success rate, with 60 scheduled auctions.

It included a renovated 1880s St Peters home which fetched $1.285 million after being listed with $1.1 million to $1.2 million hopes.

The 2 St Peters Street home (below) , listed through Kirsty Davies at Fox Real Estate, had previously traded at $470,000 in 2005.

Corelogic noted national auction activity remains quieter year-on-year with 1,444 homes taken to auction across the combined capitals.

While increasing from the previous week when 928 auctions were held, it was lower than the same week last year when 1,992 auctions were held.

Preliminary results show a clearance rate of 55.2 percent.

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Last week’s final clearance rate came in at 51.1 cent across the combined capitals, which CoreLogic's auction analyst Kevin Brogan noted was the first time the final clearance rate sat  above 50 percent since September 2018. 

CoreLogic put Sydney's auction clearance rate at a nine-month high.

One year ago, the national clearance rate was 66.1 percent.

Melbourne's top sale was a 1902 Surrey Hill charmer, Devon (below) which fetched $2.84 million, followed by a 172sq m property with potential in Albert Park sold for $2.605 million.

The prime corner Beaconsfield Parade offering, called on the market at $2.555 million, had no heritage overlay