Reported auction clearance rates held firm over the weekend in Australia’s two largest cities, however, the large number of unreported results places a cloud over the reliability of the results.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) reported a provisional auction clearance rate of 6o% on 875 results reported to the REIV. This compares to a provisional clearance rate of 60% initially reported last weekend on 853 auctions, which was later revised down to 59% once late results were chased-up. With 940 auctions initially planned over the weekend, there are a large number of missing results, which will likely lead to the clearance rate being downgraded as further results arrive.
Although this week’s reported clearance rate is once again a bit rubbery, given the high number of missing results, it is still way above the same weekend of last year, where a clearance rate of only 53% was recorded on 882 auctions, and also looks to be a slight improvement on the 57% clearance rate recorded in 2010 on 1,235 auction.
In New South Wales, where auction data is less transparent and accessible, a provisional clearance rate of 62% was reported on 296 auctions by the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW). However, there were 235 auctions with “no result”, once again rendering the headline clearance rate next to useless:
To highlight the questionable reliability of Australian auction data (particularly in New South Wales), check out last week’s auction results published later in the week by RP Data after outstanding results were chased-up:
Last weekend’s final clearance rate of 59% reported by the REIV was 6% above that published by RP Data later in the week. Worse, the REINSW’s reported clearance rate of 57% was 11% higher than RP Data’s.
The REIV expects about 920 auctions next weekend.
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.
