Australia’s auction market ended 2023 in the gutter, with the national clearance rate averaging 59% in December, down from a peak of 71% in May 2023.
Dwelling value growth has likewise turned down:
This downturn in clearance rates and prices has been driven by Melbourne and Sydney.
Melbourne’s auction clearance rate averaged just 57% in December, down from a peak of 70% in June:
Sydney’s auction clearance rate averaged 60% in December, down from a peak of 73% in May:
With the housing market clearly cooling, vendors are now rushing to put their homes on the market, according to CoreLogic’s Auction Market Preview.
“The February auction market is starting off with a bang, with 1,706 homes currently scheduled for auction across the combined capitals”, CoreLogic says.
“This week is set to be the second busiest start to February on record, behind only the first week of February 2022 (1,779) when momentum from the previous year carried into the new year selling season”.
“This week’s auction numbers are more than double those seen over the month of January (803) and are up 29.0% from the 1,322 auctions held in the first week of February 2023”, CoreLogic says.
Source: CoreLogic
Melbourne is set to host 608 auctions, up 47.2% on the same week last year (413).
Sydney has scheduled 591 auctions this weekend, up 28.3% from last year (424).
“With clearance rates weakening to below average levels toward the end of last year, this week will likely help set the pace for the pre-Easter selling season and provide a timely test of buyer demand”, CoreLogic says.
