Auction clearances remain fully mental

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The national auction clearance rate remains stuck in the stratosphere, driven again by super strong demand in Sydney and Melbourne.

The preliminary national clearance rate was 79.2%, up marginally from the weekend before Easter (79.0%), with clearance rates still running at their strongest level in six years in trend terms, from RP Data:

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Sydney’s clearance rate rose 3.5% to 88.3%, whereas Melbourne’s rose by 1.0% to 78.7%. Clearances in Brisbane, which typically only has a small number of auctions, fell to 48.3% from 50.9% in the weekend before Easter. Overall auction volumes (2,541) were also up sharply on the 1,568 auctions recorded last weekend.

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As shown in the next chart, Melbourne has experienced the biggest pick-up in auction clearances over the past year, with the clearance rate up 20.6% on the same week of last year:

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Sydney, too, has experienced explosive growth off a higher base, with the clearance rate up 17.3% over the past year, and recording 10 weeks in a row of clearances above 80%:

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The Real Estate Institute of Victoria reported a preliminary clearance rate of 79% on 1,060 reported auctions, which was up slightly from the 78% clearance rate on 555 auctions reported in the weekend prior to Easter.

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For Sydney, Domain (formerly APM) reported a preliminary clearance rate of 88% on 599 reported auctions, which was also up slightly on the 87% clearance rate on 417 auctions reported in the weekend before Easter.

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.