Melbourne auction clearance rates surge, despite coronavirus lockdown

Melbourne notches up one of the highest clearance rates among state capitals, despite a return to citywide restrictions.

Despite citywide lockdown restrictions across Melbourne auction clearance rates have surged. Picture: News Corp

Melbourne’s auction market defied the citywide COVID-19 lockdown notching up one of the highest clearance rates among the state capitals, although around a quarter of the stock was pulled from the market ahead of the weekend.

Clearance rates across other capitals including Sydney were up slightly on the week, according to preliminary figures from CoreLogic, indicating stability returning to the nation’s housing market.

But much of the focus was on Melbourne which returned to six week lockdown restrictions as the state battles a second wave of coronavirus cases.

Melbourne there were 475 auctions scheduled in Melbourne this week, up from 456 over the previous week and 348 over the same week last year, CoreLogic said.

Preliminary results show that so far 63.7 per cent of auctions were successful, while 24.6 per cent were reported as withdrawn ­­– compared with only 12.2 per cent of properties withdrawn ahead of Sydney auctions.

The previous week saw a final clearance rate of 60.6 per cent in Melbourne, while this time last year, 70.6 per cent of Melbourne auctions reported a successful result. The median price for houses in Melbourne auctions came in at $842,000.

While property market operations were not specifically listed as restricted activities under the new “stay at home” stage three outline, the Real Estate Institute of Victoria last week said there would be a return to virtual selling methods.

This would mirror the national stage three restrictions implemented by the federal government in March through to May, which banned public auctions and open homes.

In Sydney 538 homes were scheduled for auction this week, down from 580 over the previous week, although up sharply on the same time a year ago.

The preliminary clearance rate for Sydney came in at 62.6 per cent, up slightly on last week’s final clearance rate of 61.5 per cent. Although this time last year the city posted a clearance rate of 72.8 per cent. The median Sydney house price for auctions came in at $1.36 million.

Across the other capitals, Adelaide (65.5 per cent) and Canberra (64.5 per cent) were the only cities to record a clearance rate above 60 per cent, with Brisbane reporting a preliminary clearance rate of 52.8 cent and Perth, on a low volume, at 37.5 per cent.

The national clearance rate of 62.2 per cent was up from last week’s final clearance rate of 60.2 per cent, and lower than this time last year (65.4 percent), CoreLogic said.