Auction activity is expected to ramp up this week, with 2,593 properties set to go under the hammer.
CoreLogic’s latest Auction Market Preview for the week ending 13 December 2020 found that this week’s scheduled volumes are up by 24 per cent on last week’s figures, when 2,085 auctions were held.
Despite the increase, auction activity is still lower than this time last year, when a higher 2,804 homes were taken to auction.
Improved conditions are being seen in Australia’s two largest auction markets, Sydney and Melbourne, where more than 1,000 homes will be taken to auction across each of the capital cities.
According to CoreLogic research analyst Jade Harling, Melbourne is expected to be the busier of the two with 1,153 properties scheduled for auction, an increase of 28 per cent on last week. Sydney isn’t far behind with a total of 1,037 auctions scheduled, an expected rise of almost 20 per cent.
“While activity across Melbourne has certainly bounced back from the lows we were seeing throughout most of the second half of the year, volumes are still below 2019 levels, with 1,405 homes taken to auction over the same week last year,” Ms Harling said.
“Meanwhile, one year ago in Sydney, volumes were lower at 875.”
The remaining smaller markets are all expected to see a rise in activity over the week, with Brisbane set to be the busiest of the smaller cities, with 147 auctions scheduled to take place. This is followed by Canberra (115), Adelaide (101), Perth (36) and Tasmania (4).
Last week’s results
Last week, both auction volumes and the final combined capital city clearance rate saw a slight decline over the week.
There were 2,085 capital city homes taken to auction returning a final auction clearance rate of 69.9 per cent, down on the 2,168 auctions held the week prior when 70.6 per cent cleared. One year earlier, a much higher 2,912 auctions took place with a final success rate of 71.1 per cent.
There were 899 Melbourne homes taken to auction last week, which was somewhat steady on the week prior’s 909 auctions. Final figures, however, saw Melbourne’s final clearance rate drop over the week, with 67.7 per cent of homes selling, down from the 69.3 per cent the previous week. One year ago, 1,520 auctions were held across the city with 73.2 per cent sold.
Meanwhile, a final auction clearance rate of 74.1 per cent was achieved in Sydney last week across 867 auctions, an improvement on the 72.5 per cent recorded over the previous week when volumes were higher (886). A higher 976 Sydney homes were auctioned one year ago, with a final success rate of 73.8 per cent.
Across the smaller cities, Canberra was the best performing with 74.8 per cent of auctions returning a successful result. Perth followed closely with 70 per cent of auctions clearing, the second consecutive week the city has achieved a clearance rate above or at the 70 per cent mark.