Auction wrap: Melbourne recovers, Sydney up

Capital city auctions are continuing to recover as fears prompted by the coronavirus pandemic are replaced by a resurgence.

Auctioneer Chris Scerri brings the gavel down on an auction in Westmead, Sydney on Saturday. (pictures by Julian Andrews).

City auctions are continuing to recover as fears prompted by the coronavirus pandemic are replaced by a resurgence in the traditionally busy spring selling season and low interest rates spurring competition between lenders.

The combined capital city preliminary auction clearance rate improved last week and, although volumes are lower than normal, partly due to Melbourne’s strict lockdown, the clearance rate is approaching last year’s levels.

Melbourne could see a speedier recovery with a further opening of property inspections flagged by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday.

Under changes private inspections for purchase or leasing of commercial properties can recommence from midnight Sunday. This aligns with existing residential property inspections which were permitted from last month. Outdoor auctions for commercial and residential property will also be permitted with up to 10 people in attendance.

Auction volumes rose with 1,134 homes going under the hammer, up from the 1,084 auctions held the previous week, according to CoreLogic.

The research house said that on figures it had collected so far 72.4 per cent were successful, higher than last week’s preliminary figure of 71.5 per cent, although this was revised down to 66.4 per cent once all the results were counted.

Over the same week last year, a final clearance rate of 72.1 per cent was reported across a higher 1,955 auctions.

Sydney continues to make up over 60 per cent of all auction activity, although volumes were lower over the week, with 707 homes taken to auction down from the 751 held over the week prior.

Of the 560 results collected a preliminary clearance rate of 75.9 per cent was achieved compared to this time last year where a final auction clearance rate of 79.2 per cent was recorded across 727 auctions.

Last week Sydney’s final clearance rate came in at 67.2 per cent.

Even Melbourne saw a substantial increase in scheduled volumes, with 188 homes taken to auction last week, up on the 59 auctions the previous week and the largest number of auctions in two months.

Of the 143 results collected so far, 93 were successful and 14 were withdrawn, equating to a preliminary clearance rate of 65 per cent and a withdrawal rate of 10 per cent.

Of the sold results collected, 27 per cent sold prior to the scheduled auction event, which was much lower than the recent trend where a high proportion of auctions have been selling prior to the auction being held rather than under the hammer.

A year ago, 915 Melbourne homes were auctioned with 73.3 per cent selling.

In the smaller markets, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate of 85.7 per cent. followed by Adelaide (70.6 per cent), Perth (55 per cent) and Brisbane (54.7 per cent).