Melbourne drives auction clearances lower

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The national auction clearance rate fell over the weekend, driven by a big decline in Melbourne.

According to RP Data, the national weighted average preliminary auction clearance rate was 64.3% over the weekend, which was down 0.9% from the 65.2% clearance rate recorded last weekend. Sydney’s clearance rate rose by 5.0% to 76.2%, whereas Melbourne’s fell to 61.2% (last weekend 65.9%). Brisbane, which typically only has a small number of auctions, experienced a rise in its clearance rate (up 3.5% to 50.8%). Overall auction volumes (1,622) were down significantly on last weekend’s 3,351.

ScreenHunter_5594 Dec. 22 08.42

The trend in the national clearance rate remains down and hovering around the same level as this time last year (see next chart).

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ScreenHunter_5595 Dec. 22 08.42

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria reported a preliminary clearance rate of 68% on 480 auctions reported to the REIV, which was down from 70% on 1,266 reported auctions last weekend.

For Sydney, Domain (APM) reported a preliminary clearance rate 76% on 283 reported auctions, which was up from the clearance rate of 75% recorded on 706 auctions last weekend.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.