Auction clearance rates in Australia’s two major markets were mixed over the weekend, with New South Wales’ clearance rate improving and Victoria’s retracing somewhat on relatively low volumes.
In New South Wales, a provisional auction clearance rate of 65% was recorded over the weekend by the REINSW, which is an improvement on the 64% clearance rate recorded last week and the year-to-date average clearance rate of around 60%. It was also the highest recorded clearance rate since mid-May 2012.
Auction volumes remain relatively low, however, with only 321 auctions reported to the REINSW, which is -4% below the 336 auctions reported to the REINSW at the same time last year.
It was a different story in Victoria, where the REIV reported a provisional auction clearance rate of 59%, which was below the provisional rate of 62% recorded last weekend (later revised down to 60%), but above the 55% clearance rate recorded in the same weekend of last year.
Over the month of July, Victoria recorded an auction clearance rate of 58%, which was above both the 56% clearance rate recorded over the month of June and the 57% clearance rate reported in July 2011. However, auction volumes were the lowest for three years, as shown by the below REIV chart:
Twitter: Leith van Onselen. Leith is the Chief Economist of Macro Investor, Australia’s independent investment newsletter covering trades, stocks, property and yield. Click for a free 21 day trial.
