Spring selling season to start with a bang as 2,401 homes get set for auction
Auction Market Preview – week ending 3 September 2023
By Kaytlin Ezzy, Economist, CoreLogic Australia
The spring selling season is starting with a bang, with 2,401 capital city homes currently scheduled for auction. Up 5.4% from last week (2,278), this week is set to be the third busiest over the year-to-date, behind the week ending 26th February (2,429) and the week ending 2nd April (2,687). Weaker selling conditions, rising interest rates and falling dwelling values saw a more lacklustre start to spring last year, with 1,823 auctions held this week last year.
Auction activity across Sydney is set to exceed 1,000 for the second time this year, with 1,010 homes currently scheduled to go under the hammer this week. Up 16.5% from last week (867), this week’s auction activity is just below the number seen over the week ending 2nd April (1,017, the busiest week of the year-to-date) and are 46.6% higher than the numbers seen this time last year (689).
Despite expecting a -4.8% decline in auction activity week-on-week, Melbourne (1,021) is set to host the busiest auction market this week. Last week (1,072) saw Melbourne record its busiest week since before Easter, while this time last year, 777 homes were auctioned across the city.
Across the smaller capitals, auction activity is set to rise 9.1% this week, with week-on-week rises across Brisbane (28.1%) and Canberra (23.2%) offsetting the decline expected in Adelaide (-17.5%). Brisbane is set to host the busiest auction market among the smaller capitals and the city’s busiest week in five weeks with 155 homes currently scheduled for auction. This is followed by Adelaide (104) and Canberra (101), which is expecting its busiest week since early April. Eight homes are set to go under the hammer in Perth, and two auctions are scheduled to occur in Tasmania this week.
Please see the attached PDF for a full copy of the Auction Market Preview, including sub-region auction statistics.
Click on Core Logic PDF link here:
Auction Preview Week ending 03 September 2023
Summary of last week’s results
With 2,278 homes auctioned across the capitals, last week overtook the previous week (2,037) as the busiest since before Easter and the fourth busiest week of the year-to-date. After recording the highest final clearance rate in six weeks the week prior (67.5%), the combined capital’s clearance rate dropped -70 basis points to 66.8% last week. The dip in the clearance rate was driven by a mild increase in both the withdrawal rate (7.7%) and the portion of properties passed in at auction (25.2%). This time last year, when selling conditions were significantly weaker, 55.8% of the 2,006 auctions held across the combined capitals recorded a successful result.
