The auction clearance rate in Australia’s biggest auction market – Melbourne – rose over the weekend, with 72% of the 653 auctions reported to the REIV selling, with 58 auctions still listed as “no result”, which will likely lead to some minor downward revisions to the clearance rate as the missing results come in (see below table).
The result compares favourably to the 71% provisional clearance rate recorded last weekend on 627 auctions, which was downgraded to a final clearance rate of 69% on 747 auctions after late results were chased-up. It was also above the 61% clearance rate on 645 auctions recorded on the same weekend of last year and the 58% clearance rate recorded in 2011 on 628 auctions. Next weekend around 670 auctions are expected.
Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate was reported as 71% by Australian Property Monitors (APM) based on 265 reported results. However, the reported result should be taken with a big tablespoon of salt. Last weekend’s clearance rate for Sydney was initially reported as 78% only to then be downgraded to 70% later in the week once late results came in. Even so, Sydney’s clearance rate was up from 60% this time last year, suggesting the auction market has improved.
