Home|NEWS|Auction volumes continue to rise in lead-up to Christmas
Auction volumes continue to rise in lead-up to Christmas
Cassandra CharlesworthNovember 27, 2022
Sydney had its busiest auction week since late May.
Auction volumes have risen further this week, and the trend is tipped to continue in the lead-up until Christmas.
CoreLogic reported there were 2393 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities this week, making it the busiest week since mid-June when 2528 properties went to auction.
While the volume is a 4.1 per cent increase on last week when 2298 auctions took place, the number of homes taken to auction this week was 43.7 per cent lower than this time last year when 4251 auctions occurred.
Of the 1824 results collected so far, 61.5 per cent were successful.
Last week's preliminary clearance rate was 1.6 percentage points higher (63.1 per cent) but revised down to 60.2 per cent at final figures, while this time last year, 68.5 per cent of reported auctions were successful.
"Auction activity will continue to rise heading into December, with around 2560 homes currently scheduled for auction across the combined capitals next week," CoreLogic predicted.
Melbourne was the busiest auction market this week with 987 homes going under the hammer across the city. This volume was down from 1008 over the previous week and 1910 auctions this time last year.
Of the 774 results collected so far, 61 per cent were successful. This clearance rate was 4.5 per cent lower than last week, when a preliminary success rate of 65.5 per cent occurred.
That later revised down to 62.3 per cent at final figures.
This time last year, 66.3 per cent of reported auctions were successful.
In the busiest week since late May, there were 933 auctions held across Sydney this week, up 19.9 per cent from the 778 auctions held last week.
With 740 results collected so far, 64.2 per cent were successful. This preliminary clearance rate is down 3.3 percentage points from last week's rate of 67.5 per cent, which revised down to 64.2 per cent at final figures.
This time last year, 1546 homes were taken to auction across the city, and a clearance rate of 67.2 per cent was reported.
The smaller capitals
Across the smaller capital cities, Brisbane was the busiest auction market this week (154), followed closely by Canberra (152) and Adelaide (148).
Adelaide has recorded the strongest preliminary clearance rate so far (65.9 per cent), followed by Canberra (62.8 per cent) and Brisbane (47.4 per cent).
In Perth, three of the eight results collected so far returned a successful result, while the three auctions held in Tasmania this week were unsuccessful.
Source: CoreLogic
Domain results
Domain has reported a preliminary clearance rate of 60.9 per cent after tracking 1905 auctions across the major capitals.
So far, results are in for 1329 of those auctions, with 809 properties selling (to the value of $663.5 million), while 238 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, the preliminary clearance rate settled at 56.2 per cent after 1861 auctions took place.
Results were provided for 1611 of those auctions, with 906 properties selling (to the value of $755.5 million), while 203 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, both auction volumes and the clearance rate were much higher.
In the same week last year, 3064 auctions took place, resulting in a final clearance rate of 64.3 per cent.
Results were provided for 2905 of those auctions, with 1867 properties selling (to the value of $2763.1 million), while 418 properties were withdrawn
Sydney has notched up a preliminary clearance rate of 61.7 per cent after 791 properties went to auction this week.
So far, result are in for 540 of those auctions, with 333 properties selling (to the value of $303.7 million), while 137 properties were withdrawn.
Last week, the final clearance rate was 63.6 per cent after 684 properties went to auction.
Results were provided for 579 of those auctions, with 368 properties selling (to the value of $375.7 million), while 96 properties were withdrawn.
This time last year, Sydney's clearance rate was 66.2 per cent after 1191 properties went to auction.
Results were provided for 1112 of those auctions, with 736 properties selling (to the value of $1401.2 million), while 170 properties were withdrawn.
Melbourne saw 844 properties go to auction this week, resulting in a preliminary clearance rate of 60.5 per cent.
Last week, Melbourne's final clearance rate was 54.6 per cent after 872 properties went to auction.
This time last year, Melbourne's clearance rate was 61.5 per cent after 1463 properties went to auction.
Source: Domain
Ray White results
All eyes may have been on the Victorian state election on Saturday, but the Ray White Group said bidder numbers indicated even a trip to the polls couldn't interrupt their property dreams.
On Saturday, the group recorded a 69 per cent clearance rate with 3.6 registered bidders and 2.5 active bidders on average per auction nationally.
Across the week, they noted sellers who sold under the hammer gained, on average, 11.36 per cent more on their sale price than if they'd taken a prior offer.
The top sale was held by the Sunshine State on Saturday. Ray White New Farm's Matt Lancashire and Tom Lyne sold 59 Hunter St, Indooroopilly for $5.76 million.
A Georges Hall auction in Sydney attracted the most bidders. Number 29 Oak Drive had 15 bidders attend the auction and sold for $1.21 million through Ray White Parramatta agent Antoine Ayrouth.
Ray White Victoria chief auctioneer Jeremy Tyrrell said not even the Victorian state election kept the buyers away as auction numbers remained strong, with close to 200 auctions scheduled across the state.
"Buyer activity also remained consistently strong with nearly eight out of 10 auctions receiving bids across Victoria," Mr Tyrrell said.
"There were also a number of reported auctions that achieved very strong results, defying current market sentiment, and it looks like the property market will remain strong for the final few weeks of 2022."
Ray White New South Wales chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro said it was clear from the activity on Saturday that buyers were eager to get in before Christmas.
"We're seeing some steady prices across all of Sydney and that's reflected in the number of bidders and our clearance rate, which are both increasing from earlier parts of the year to more normal levels," Mr Pattaro said.
"Now is a great opportunity to sell before interest rates continue to go up."
Ray White Queensland chief auctioneer Gavin Croft said the clear theme from this weekend was a large volume of sold prior auctions.
"It makes sense since we're really on that precipice of 30 days or thereabouts until Christmas.
"Those with an urgency to be secured and settled and move in prior to Christmas, they'd do everything over the course of this week to secure property," Mr Croft said.
"On the auction floor today we've seen buyers with that little bit of added urgency, there was a real need to get in and move before Christmas."
Ray White South Australia chief auctioneer John Morris said the streets of the east end of the city were being overtaken by supercars and superstars for the Adelaide 500 this week.
"But everyone knows that the real action is taking place in front of the many yellow boards that are advertising the Ray White auctions going ahead today," Mr Morris said.
"And boy, there are a lot of them.
"It's looking like the market is still staying extremely strong, the clearance rate as a whole combined throughout the financial year again, has stuck around about that 70 per cent mark as well.
"Auction is still the way to sell in and around Adelaide and South Australia."
Cassandra Charlesworth
Cassandra Charlesworth is a features writer for Elite Agent Magazine with over 15 years' journalism experience in metropolitan and regional newsrooms. She has a specialist interest in real estate, tech disruption and a good old-fashioned "yarn".