Auction wrap: What happened under the hammer February 20?

Auction wrap: What happened under the hammer February 20?
Jonathan ChancellorFebruary 21, 2021

Across the capital cities some 2,094 homes were scheduled for weekend auction, up from 1,496 over the previous week.

Of the 1,754 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 84 per cent have reported a successful result.

The national auction volume sat around 20 percent down over the same time last year, when 2,517 homes were taken to pre-COVID-19 pandemic auction with 72 per cent sold.

"Auction markets are set to be tested on larger volumes next week, with CoreLogic tracking close to 2,500 capital city auctions scheduled to be held," Corelogic’s Tim Lawless noted.

Melbourne was host to 1,061 weekend, auctions, down on this time last year's 1,248 homes. 

Of the 908 results collected so far by CoreLogic, 82 per cent were successful, down from last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 87 per cent, which revised down to 70 per cent at final figures.

In Sydney, 769 homes were taken to auction last week, compared to 963 this time last year. The preliminary clearance rate came in at 88 percent.

"It is likely that Sydney’s final auction clearance rate will come in above 80 per cent for the third consecutive week," Tim Lawless suggested.

Sydney's had the nation's highest declared sale was in Elizabeth Bay, when a freestanding Queen Anne revival-style mansion on 512 sqm sold for $8.5 million. 

The property offered by the bankruptcy trustee last traded for $2.9 million in 2001.

Across the smaller cities, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 92 per cent, followed by Adelaide at 85 per cent.  

Dr Andrew Wilson, the chief economist at AI property intelligence platform Archistar noted the weekend saw “red-hot auction markets with rampant buyer activity in all capitals showing no sign of easing.”

All capital cities recorded clearance rates well above 80% on Saturday, with Melbourne the exception just failing to reach that benchmark by 0.4%

Saturday’s clearance rates were generally significantly higher than recorded over the same day last year with the exception of Melbourne that was marginally lower.

Dr Wilson noted Sydney’s Lower North, Northern Beaches and Upper North Shore were the top weekend auction regions all recording clearance rates above 90%.

Sydney recorded a median price for houses sold at auction on the weekend of $1,692,500.

At 87 percent, the clearance rate for units was slightly below that reported for houses. The median unit sale was $970,000.

Melbourne recorded a median house auction price of $1,050,000 at the weekend. The median price for units was $687,500.

The clearance rate for Melbourne units was slightly below that reported for houses.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

Editor's Picks