Auctions subdued in Sydney and Brisbane as sales delayed

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally held above the 70 per cent mark in the face of subdued activity with two key markets, Sydney and Brisbane, hit with Covid lockdowns.

Buxton agent Ben Riddle auctions 146 Skene St, Newtown.

The number of homes sold at auctions nationally held above the 70 per cent mark in the face of subdued activity with two key markets, Sydney and Brisbane, hit with Covid lockdowns.

There were signs of recovery in Melbourne as the city emerges out of its lockdown earlier last month. As a result the auction market is returning to business as usual in terms of volume.

Melbourne made up nearly half of the nation’s auction volumes last week, with 1067 homes taken to market and a preliminary clearance rate of 75.9 per cent, according to figures released by property tracker CoreLogic. This was higher than the 74.7 per cent final clearance rate recorded the previous week.

Nationally there were 2177 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities, down on the 2960 auctions the previous week.

Of the results collected so far, 73.6 per cent were successful, down on the previous week’s final clearance rate of 75.4 per cent.

Sydney – which is more than halfway through a two-week Covid lockdown – had 11 per cent of the planned 863 auctions rescheduled.

The city’s property industry shifted to virtual auction sales for the weekend.

The 672 results collected across the city so far show a preliminary auction clearance rate of 71.6 per cent. Of the 481 sold results, 61.1 per cent reportedly sold before the scheduled auction date. Meanwhile 23 per cent of the properties were withdrawn from the market.

The Sydney figures compare to the previous week, in which there were 1084 auctions with a clearance rate of 77.5 per cent.

Brisbane had been set to be the busiest of the smaller auction markets with 153 auctions scheduled, however the city’s four-day lockdown ending Saturday night saw 13 per cent rescheduled. The ­preliminary clearance rate was 64.4 per cent.

Elsewhere, Canberra returned the highest preliminary clearance rate of all auction markets, with 86.8 per cent of homes sold.

Adelaide recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 73.7 per cent while Perth’s clearance rate came in at 28.6 per cent across just 15 auctions.

The latest figures come as home loan growth in May surged 4.9 per cent month-on-month and 95.4 per cent year-on-year to a new high of $32.6bn. That was driven by a 116 per cent rise in investor loans to a six-year high of $9.1bn.