The national auction clearance rate jumped sharply over the weekend on the back of big rises in Sydney and Melbourne.
According to RP Data, the national weighted average preliminary auction clearance rate was 72.2% over the weekend, which was up 5.5% from the 66.7% preliminary clearance rate reported last weekend. Sydney’s clearance rate rose by 4.9% to 81.1%, whereas Melbourne’s rose to 71.0% (last weekend 64.1%). Brisbane, which typically only has a small number of auctions, experienced a decline in its clearance rate to 47.0% from 52.1% the weekend before. Overall auction volumes (2,004) were also up strongly on last weekend’s 1,675.
The trend in the national clearance rate looks to be rising, and remains well above the levels recorded during the 2011 and 2012 housing bear market and slightly above the same time last year (see next chart).
As usual, the other data providers reported stronger results but on smaller samples.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria reported a preliminary clearance rate of 76% on 717 reported auctions, which compares to the 71% preliminary clearance rate on 613 reported auctions last weekend.
For Sydney, APM reported a preliminary clearance rate of 82% on 449 reported auctions, which compares to the 83% preliminary clearance rate on 319 reported auctions recorded last weekend.
