Property clearance rates less than 50 per cent for another week

National auction clearance results have remained below 50 per cent for the seventh consecutive week.

Continued weak results could be attributed to softening conditions in Sydney and Melbourne.

National auction clearance results have remained below 50 per cent for the seventh consecutive week, despite a slight seasonal rise in the number of properties for sale.

CoreLogic preliminary data shows there were 2384 auctions across the capital cities last week, returning an initial clearance rate of 46.8 per cent.

This was a slight improvement on the previous week’s final result of 42.7 per cent across 1541 auctions, which was the lowest reading since June 2012.

But CoreLogic national auction commentator Kevin Brogan said it was likely last week’s preliminary result would slump further once final results were collected. “It’s possible the final clearance rate could nudge below the 40 per cent range,” he said. “The results indicate a considerably softer trend to what was seen over the same period last year when clearance rates were tracking around the low to mid 60 per cent range.”

He said the continued weak results could be attributed to conditions in Sydney and Melbourne.

In Melbourne, a preliminary clearance rate of 48.3 per cent was recorded with 1141 auctions held across the city. On the corresponding week last year, 1296 auctions were held, returning a higher result of 69.2 per cent.

In Sydney, 830 homes went under the hammer, returning a clearance rate of 48.4 per cent, compared with 58.5 per cent across 1102 auctions in the corresponding week last year. Brisbane had just 139 auctions, returning a clearance rate of 31.1 per cent, while Canberra hosted 110 auctions with 45 per cent clearing. Adelaide recorded 47.5 per cent of homes clearing across 122 auctions, but Perth managed only 20 per cent.

“We haven’t seen that spring time increase in the amount of stock on the market this year,” Mr Brogan said. “The level of auctions now compared to the same weekend last year is lower across all markets.”