Heading into the weekend’s auctions, CoreLogic questioned whether the market would be negatively impacted by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) unexpected 0.25% interest rate hike last Tuesday.
Well, the results are in with CoreLogic recording the highest preliminary clearance rate since mid-February 2022, which was more than two months before the RBA began its interest rate tightening cycle.
CoreLogic auction clearance rates.
Across the combined capital cities, 75.1% of homes that went under the hammer were sold over the weekend, based on preliminary results.
Last weekend’s preliminary clearance rate was 5.9 percentage points lower at 69.2% (revised to 66.2% at final figures), whereas this time last year, 61.8% of auctions held were successful.
Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate remained above 70% for the fourth week in a row, at 76.0%.
Last week’s preliminary clearance rate (77.7%, downgraded to 71.8% in final numbers) was 1.7 percentage points higher, and the highest since mid-October 2021 (80.1%).
This time last year, Melbourne hosted 905 auctions with a clearance rate of 59.8%.
Across Sydney, 78.5% of auctions were successful, the highest preliminary clearance rate since mid-February 2022 (79.6%).
The previous weekend’s preliminary clearance rate was 7.8 percentage points lower at 70.7%, which was reduced to 68.0% in final numbers. Only 55.3% of auctions were successful at this time last year.
AMP Capital’s chief economist, Shane Oliver, reported on Domain’s preliminary auction clearance rates via Twitter (chart below).
Sydney recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 78%, which infers a final clearance rate of around 76%. That’s up from a May norm of around 67%, according to Oliver.
Melbourne recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 76%, which suggests a final clearance rate of about 71%. That’s also up from a May norm of around 67%.
Domain auction clearance rates.
Meanwhile, Australian dwelling values continue to rebound, led by Sydney.
It has now been a full quarter since dwelling values across the five major capital city markets bottomed on 7 February.
Since then, values at the 5-city aggregate level have rebounded by 1.8%, driven by a 3.4% jump across Sydney:
Based on this weekend’s auction results, the RBA’s latest 0.25% rate hike has had minimal impact on the market.
A dearth of stock for sale and soaring rents continues to drive a ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) among buyers, which is driving the price rebound.
