Rush of weekend property auctions weigh on clearance rates, CoreLogic says

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally remained below the 80 per cent mark for the third consecutive week.

The auction of 12 Ian Parade, Concord, on Saturday as auctioneer Michael Garofolo brings down the gavel on the sale. (Picture by Julian Andrews).

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally remained below the 80 per cent mark for the third consecutive week on the back of a rush of homes taken to the market, although the Sydney market remains the strongest of the state capitals.

Melbourne remains the most active market with the number of properties put up for sale nearing the 1,300 mark for the second week running, although the flood of supply has kept clearance rates steady. Melbourne returned a clearance rate of 77.6 per cent across 1,286 auctions, according to property tracker CoreLogic.

Of the 2,845 national auction results collected so far, 78.2 per cent have reported a sale, according to CoreLogic’s weekend market summary. This is down slightly from last week’s preliminary auction clearance rate of 79 per cent where 2,892 houses were taken to auction.

Over the same week last year a COVID-recovering property market saw just 62.7 per cent of homes selling across just 612 auctions, with many sales limited by viewing restrictions.

“The final clearance rate has held at or above 77.0 per cent for all but one of the last 15 weeks, so it will be interesting to see how the clearance rate holds up as the remaining results are collected over the next few days,” CoreLogic said in its analysis.

Sydney’s property market remains the strongest in terms of clearance rates. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The figures come after lending major Commonwealth Bank called the bottom on ultra-low rates, on Friday hiking its three and four-year fixed mortgage rates, as analysts say more banks will soon follow which could dampen property price growth.

The rate hike marks a turning point for borrowers with fixed rates at the shorter-year duration now starting to lift as wholesale funding costs rise, despite efforts by central banks around the world to lock in ultra-low rates.

Over the weekend Sydney held its position the one of the strongest large markets for sales with a preliminary clearance rate of 80 per cent across 1,111 auctions. This was down slightly from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 81.6 per cent, across 1,150 auctions.

On average Sydney house prices sold for $1.59m while units were sold for $951,000. Melbourne house prices on average sold for $1.005m while units were sold for $651,000.

Across other cities, Canberra continued to deliver the highest preliminary clearance rate at 86.5 per cent, with an average house price of $881,500, making it the fourth most expensive property market.

This was followed by Adelaide with preliminary clearance rate of 79.6 per cent, with average house prices this weekend coming in at $755,500.

Brisbane’s weekend clearance rate came in at 63.6 per cent, but house prices have pushed higher at $930,000.

Perth’s clearance rate came in at 68.8 per cent across just 23 auctions.

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

Sydney $1.595m

Melbourne $1.005m

Brisbane $930,000

Canberra $881,500

Adelaide $755,500

Perth N/A

Hobart N/A

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

Sydney $951,000

Melbourne $651,000

Canberra N/A

Brisbane N/A

Adelaide N/A

Perth N/A

Hobart N/A