Auction numbers rampant ahead of Easter

Auction clearance rates have held strong despite a record number of auctions over the weekend, proving buyers are still willing to compete for homes.

New home owners Kristy Muddle and David Hille with children Wilbur and Matilda at their inner-city Sydney property in Petersham. Picture: Adam Yip

Auction clearance rates have held strong despite a booming number of homes on offer over the weekend, the largest in three years.

It was also the third busiest ­auction week ever, according to property researcher CoreLogic, since records began in 2008.

After two years of lower than normal total listings, volumes were the largest since the weekend ahead of Easter in 2018.

Preliminary figures show that of the 3791 homes scheduled to go under the hammer last week, 84.4 per cent were sold.

Sydney reported the strongest preliminary rate of 89.1 per cent from 1392 auctions. Almost half of all auctions last week were held in Melbourne (1899 properties), with 83.8 per cent selling.

 

In the smaller markets, ­Canberra had the strongest ­preliminary clearance rate of 86.3 per cent from 1392 auctions followed by Adelaide, which recorded 73.9 per cent from 156 properties.

More than two-thirds of homes on offer in Brisbane (68.8 per cent from 191 properties) and Perth (66.7 per cent from 32 properties) were sold.

Inner-Sydney real estate ­agency BresicWhitney sold almost half of all its 35 scheduled auctions ahead of the weekend.

The agency’s head of sales, Thomas McGlynn, said the record pre-Easter numbers showed how many buyers were truly out there. “This was probably the ­biggest test we’ve faced in this cycle to really see if the depth of buyers everyone is talking about is actually there,” he said.

The market passed the test with flying colours, CoreLogic’s executive of research Tim Lawless said, although the strong numbers were likely to be a blip ahead of Easter.

“This result is another sign of how strong this market is and foreshadows further price rises in the market,” he said. “Obviously, there will be a seasonal slow-down over Easter.

“I expect we will see a few weeks of strong numbers before a slow-down for the winter, but in terms of proportion I expect we will see a higher number of auctions then normal.”

Kristy Muddle and David Hille placed the winning bid on a rundown Federation home (pictured) in Petersham. Picture: Adam Yip

Kristy Muddle and David Hille placed the winning bid on a rundown Federation home in Petersham. It was a moment of relief for the pair, who had missed out on four properties at auction in recent months.

“We really didn’t think we would get it,“ Ms Muddle said. “When we won, it was emotional. It wasn’t just the thought ‘yay, we won a home’, it was knowing that we were safe because the market was quickly getting ahead of us.”

The Weekend Australian reported on Saturday that Commonwealth Bank analysis showed home values were on track to record their biggest monthly increase since 1988.

David Murphy, a real estate agent on Sydney’s north shore, said some of the market heat was already starting to leave.

“It is a poorly held agent secret that if you are selling prior, it is likely the best offer you think you are going to get and that there won’t be 10 groups in the backyard on auction day,” he said.

Over the same week last year, the announcement of the first COVID-19 restrictions sparked a slew of withdrawals as nervous sellers decided to hold off.

Across capital cities, the final clearance rate was just 37.3 per cent after more than half of all homes were taken off the ­market.