The busiest week for auctions so far this year returns a preliminary clearance rate of 77.6 per cent

Auction activity ramped up across the combined capital cities this week in the lead up to Easter, with 3,424 homes taken to auction this week, recording the highest volume of auctions year-to-date. The preliminary clearance rate remains strong despite the increase in volumes over the week, with 77.6 per cent of auctions reporting as successful. This week’s results are higher than both last week’s 75.9 per cent across 2,657 auctions and the same time last year when 67.1 per cent of the 1,831 auctions were cleared.  However, if we compare to the pre-Easter weekend in March last year, volume’s reached their highest level for 2016, with 3,540 auctions held.

In Melbourne this week, the number of homes taken to auction rose to 1,458, from last week’s 1,143, with the clearance rate for the city also increasing over the week (81.0 per cent), up from 79.6 per cent over the previous week. This is significantly higher than the corresponding week last year when 803 auctions were reported with a clearance rate of 73.2 per cent.  Across Melbourne’s sub-regions, the Mornington Peninsula region recorded the highest clearance rate of all the regions, with 87.0 per cent of the 66 auctions successful, followed by the North West region, where an 86.1 per cent clearance rate was recorded across 107 auctions.

Across Sydney, there were a higher volume of auctions this week, with 1,392 held, up from 1,104 over the previous week. The preliminary clearance rate for the city saw an increase over week, up to 81.5 per cent from 78.0 per cent last week. When compared to the same time last year, both the clearance rate and number of auctions held were significantly lower, when 67.1 per cent of the 678 auctions were successful. The Outer West and Blue Mountains region recorded the strongest clearance rate of all the Sydney sub-regions, with an 90.0 per cent rate of clearance across 13 auctions, while the North Sydney and Hornsby region recorded the highest volume of auctions (221).

There were 182 Brisbane properties taken to auction this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 54.6 per cent, up from 52.4 per cent last week and also higher than the same period last year, when 47.7 per cent of the 160 properties taken to auction were successful. Across the Gold Coast 29 results have been reported so far, with a clearance rate of 37.9 per cent.

This week, Adelaide saw a preliminary clearance rate of 67.4 per cent across a total of 170 scheduled auctions. This is lower than the previous week, when Adelaide’s clearance rate was 76.3 per cent and higher than the 63.6 per cent recorded one year ago.

Perth’s clearance rate of 22.7 per cent across 53 auctions is down from the previous week, when 43 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 38.7 per cent was recorded.  Over the same week last year, the clearance rate was also higher, when 33.3 per cent of the 36 auctions were successful.

Canberra’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 69.8 per cent this week is higher than last week, when the final auction clearance rate was 60.8 per cent and higher than the 52.2 per cent recorded last year.

In Tasmania this week, there were a total of 21 auctions held, with 15 results so far.