The preliminary auction clearance rate continued to fade a little, with 71.8% of capital city auctions recording a successful result, down from 73.5% over the previous week (revised down to 68.2% once finalised).
The trend in auction clearance rates remains well above late last year when preliminary clearance rates were in the mid 60% range and finalised results were settling in the mid 50% range, but clearance rates have been softening since the second week of February when a preliminary clearance rate of 76.2% was recorded. With an average downward revision of -5.9% so far this year, the final clearance rate is likely to come in around 65-66%.
Capital City Auction Statistics (Preliminary)
The stronger clearance rate relative to last year coincides with a re-acceleration in value growth, with CoreLogic’s Home Value Index reporting a pick up in the pace of growth in January and February. Although the current trend in auction clearance rates is conducive to further growth in values, if clearance rates continue to ease we could see some momentum leave the re-acceleration.
With 2,556 auctions held, last week was the second busiest week so far this year, down 10.4% from the week prior when 2,853 auctions were held.
The major auction markets, Melbourne and Sydney, both recorded a 0.5% drop in the preliminary clearance rate relative to the previous week, with Sydney (76.8%) continuing to show a solid outperformance relative to Melbourne (70.1%). Melbourne saw 1,283 homes taken to auction across the city, while 878 auctions were held in Sydney last week.
Capital City Auction Statistics over time
Historical clearance rates utilise the final auction clearance rate, while the current week is based on the preliminary clearance rate.
Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane recorded the busiest auction week, with 148 homes taken to auction, followed by Adelaide (138), Canberra (101), Perth (6) and Tasmania (2). Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 69.4%, followed by Brisbane (65.0%) and Canberra (63.8%). Two of the three auctions reported in Perth so far were successful, while the two auction results in Tasmania are yet to be collected.
The volume of auctions is set to drop sharply this week due to long weekends across four of the eight states and territories, with around 1,700 auctions currently scheduled.
Capital City Auction Statistics (Preliminary)
The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
Sub-region auction statistics (preliminary)
CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.
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Meet Caitlin Fono
Sr Associate, Research Support
Caitlin has spent more than a decade working with property data and analytics in various roles, earning a position on the CoreLogic research team in 2013. As a respected and highly experienced research analyst, Caitlin works with high frequency data sets, regularly updating our widely read auction reporting, weekly activity updates and customised data briefs.
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