Strong clearance rates provide warm comfort

The Melbourne and Sydney property markets are continuing to return strong clearance rates despite the winter slumber in ­listings.

House at 86 Short Street, Birchgrove in Sydney, one of a growing portfolio of homes in Sydney Harbourside suburbs that are owned by co-founder of security software specialist PC Tools Simon Clausen and his wife Alexandra.

The Melbourne and Sydney property markets continue to ­return strong clearance rates ­despite the winter slumber in ­listings.

There were 644 auctions in Melbourne last week, and a preliminary success rate of 69.7 per cent made the Victorian capital the best performing capital city.

The number of auctions was down slightly from the previous week, when 724 properties went on sale and there was a final clearance rate of 64.9 per cent.

Melbourne’s final clearance rate has increased every week this month and once final numbers are collated this week, the city’s results are likely to hold above 65 per cent for the first time in more than a year.

In the same week last year, Melbourne recorded a clearance rate of 59.9 per cent across 941 auctions.

There were 1480 homes taken to auction across the combined capitals last week, ­return­ing a preliminary clearance rate of 63.7 per cent. Over the same week last year, 1849 homes were taken to auction, ­returning a clearance rate of 55.5 per cent.

CoreLogic national auction commentator Kevin Brogan said the number of auctions was lower than is typical in winter.

“These volumes also reflect the hesitancy still being experienced by people who are considering entering the market but who are looking at the results to confirm their belief that there is in fact increased market confidence,” Mr Brogan said.

Sydney recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 67.1 per cent across 551 auctions last week. The week before, 66.4 per cent of the 534 auctions were successful, the highest final clearance rate the city has seen since Easter last year.

A year ago, 641 auctions were held across Sydney, returning a final clearance rate of 50.1 per cent.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs continue to be the city’s most consistent performing sub-­region. There 79.1 per cent of 102 properties held last week sold successfully at auction.

Perth saw lower volumes week-on-week while other cities saw a rise in volumes.

In Brisbane just 34.8 per cent of 114 auctions recorded a successful sale last week and Canberra’s 40 auctions recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 54.5 per cent.