A substantial lift on 12 months ago: RP Data's Melbourne weekend auction analysis

A preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.9% was reached from 1,319 auctions this week in Melbourne. This compares to 65.6% for the same time last year from fewer auctions.  

This represents a substantial lift on the results a year ago and is a very strong result for the Melbourne market as it follows the highest volume of auctions for February on record.

Last month there were 2,623 auctions with a clearance rate of 71.5%. This was higher than the 2,571 recorded in 2010 although the clearance rate in February that year was 79%.  

Vendor discounting for units at private sale tightened significantly from 5.3% last week to -4.9% and eased slightly for houses from -5.6 to -5.7%.

Robert Larocca is Victorian housing market specialist for RP Data.