Preliminary clearance rates slip amid combined capital’s second busiest week of the year

With 3,110 auctions held, last week was the combined capital's second busiest week of the year. The major auction markets drove the higher volumes, with Sydney and Melbourne both recording their second busiest weeks of the year. Auction numbers were up 5.0% from the week prior (2,963) and were 14.5% higher than this time last year when 2,717 capital city homes were auctioned.

The combined capitals recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 66.9% - a slight step down from the previous week's preliminary rate of 67.0%, which revised down to the lowest final clearance rate of the year so far (60.7%). The easing in the early success rate appears to be driven by vendors, with 12.6% of the 2,087 results collected so far being withdrawn – the capitals’ highest withdrawal rate of the year-to-date. This time last year, 54.3% of auctions were successful.

Sydney's auction activity overtook the week prior (1,081) as the city's second busiest week of the year, with 1,110 homes auctioned. The rise in auction numbers was accompanied by a -2.2 percentage point decline in Sydney's early clearance rate, with the city recording its lowest preliminary rate of the year-to-date (66.3% out of 756 results collected). The previous week's preliminary clearance rate of 68.5% was revised to 62.5% at final numbers, while this time last year, 55.4% of the 964 homes auctioned across the city recorded a successful result.

Melbourne hosted the busiest auction market among the capitals, with 1,432 homes taken under the hammer, up 4.1% from the week prior (1,375).

With 1,005 results collected so far, Melbourne's preliminary clearance rate rose from 64.6% the previous week to 66.1% last week. Given that Melbourne's final clearance rate has held below 60% for three of the past five weeks, and the average downward revision over the past four weeks has been 6.6 percentage points, last week's final clearance rate is likely to settle around the 60% mark. Over the same week last year, 1,226 auctions were held across the city, and a final clearance rate of 56.0% was reported.

The spring/summer auction season is now starting to wind down, with around 2,900 auctions expected this week before dropping to around 500 the week after as we head into the festive season.

All data to week ending 10 December 2023

Source: CoreLogic