Melbourne auctions strong despite lockdown: CoreLogic

Melbourne was the second-strongest performing auction market this weekend despite stage-four COVID—19 lockdowns according to CoreLogic.

Ray White's chief Victorian auctioneer Matt Condon who will be calling auctions from his home for the next six weeks as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns in the state. Picture: Aaron Francis

Melbourne has recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73 per cent over the first weekend of the stricter COVID-19 lockdown, with many sellers bringing forward sales that had been planned for later in the month.

Data from property researcher CoreLogic shows Melbourne as the second-strongest performer of the week. The ­national preliminary auction clearance rate was 65.9 per cent last week.

Uncertainty stemming from the stage-four lockdowns in Melbourne and the inability to show prospective buyers through properties caused many sellers who had planned to auction their homes in the latter half of the month to fast-track their auction dates. Of the 298 properties put on the block this week, 178 were sold.

Sydney was by far the busiest city last week, achieving a clearance rate of 65.8 per cent from 642 auctions. Canberra continued its reign as the strongest market, selling 73.2 per cent of the 53 homes on offer.

In the smaller markets, Adelaide achieved a clearance rate of 71.4 per cent from 45 properties, followed by Brisbane (46.8 per cent from 105 auctions) and Perth (22.2 per cent from 17 auctions).  National agency network Ray White’s Victorian chief auctioneer Matt Condon is keeping busy calling auctions from his lounge room. The state’s real ­estate industry has largely been closed down for the next six weeks, with only virtual inspections and auctions allowed. The restrictions have shrunk the pool of potential buyers as many are unlikely to commit to a purchase without seeing a house first.

“I think for the next fortnight, auction volumes will be fairly similar,” Mr Condon said.

“We had a lot of auctions scheduled for a couple of weeks away that had a high amount of interest. What they decided to do was bring their auctions forward to next week. Because you can’t take a private inspection through a property, the interest that we have now on the property will be the same interest we’re expecting in a week or so.”

CoreLogic found the number of withdrawals was lower than during the first round of lockdowns.

Data house SQM Research found only 149 of the 282 auctions scheduled for Saturday were to go ahead. Of those not put on the block, 52 were sold prior, 25 were rescheduled or withdrawn and 56 were converted to private treaty.