Melbourne auctions recover, Sydney resilient

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally held above the 75 per cent mark although activity was subdued in several states.

An auction at Werribee in Melbourne’s west. The city’s market showed signs of recovery from lockdown. Picture: Nicki Connolly

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally held above the 75 per cent mark although activity was subdued given the Queen’s Birthday long weekend across several states.

Meanwhile property sales in Melbourne showed signs of recovery as the city emerged from its Covid lockdown, although the number of auctions held were down sharply from rush of sales in the weeks leading up to June.

With confirmation of the Melbourne lockdown coming to an end late last week, 365 auctions were held across the city compared to 1,081 auctions held in the previous week.

Of the results collected so far, 73 per cent were successful, according to preliminary figures from property tracker CoreLogic. This was up from last week’s final clearance rate of 64.0 per cent.

Nationally there were 1,426 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities this week, well down on the 2,668 auctions taken to market in the previous week. Of the results collected so far, some 77.4 per cent were successful compared to the previous week’s final clearance rate of 70.6 per cent.

Sydney remains resilient with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 78.5 per cent over this weekend, compared to last week’s final clearance rate of 75.6 per cent.

There were 749 homes taken to auction across Sydney this week, compared to 1,164 last week.

“Sydney’s final auction clearance rate has held above 75 per cent all year, and this week is likely to be no different, although the trend has clearly softened since late March when the auction clearance rate peaked at 87.6 per cent,” CoreLogic said in its analysis of the weekend property market.

The figures come amid signs banks are repricing their longer term fixed loan rates marking an end to ultra-low long term mortgage rates. ANZ on Friday hiked its four and five year rates by up to 0.45 per cent for owner-occupiers.

Across the other capital cities, Adelaide recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 86 per cent, followed by Canberra where preliminary results show 82.5 per cent of auctions resulted in a sale. Brisbane recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 75.5 per cent.

Perth’s clearance rate came in at 70 per cent across just 21 auctions.

CoreLogic’s median house price at this weekend’s auctions:

Sydney $1.545m

Melbourne $999,000

Brisbane $885,000

Canberra $880,000

Adelaide $765,000

Perth N/A

Hobart N/A

CoreLogic’s median unit price at this weekend’s auctions:

Sydney $970,000

Melbourne $643,000

Canberra N/A

Brisbane N/A

Adelaide N/A

Perth N/A

Hobart N/A