After recording a slight bounce last week, which lifted the final capital city auction clearance rate to 48.5%, the auction market has renewed its march lower.
This weekend, the preliminary auction clearance rate fell back to 50%, down from 54.8% the week prior (which was revised lower to 48.5% once finalised).
Melbourne was the strongest performer this weekend. It led auction activity, with 599 homes going under the hammer, up 4.0% from last weekend, albeit 10.7% lower than a year ago.
Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate was also 56.5%, up slightly from 56.2% a week ago (revised down to 50.3% on final numbers), which was the city’s strongest preliminary result in five weeks.
In Sydney, 444 homes went to auction, 24.1% fewer than a year ago. Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate fell sharply to 47.4%, down from above 50% over the past two weeks.
This week’s preliminary clearance rate in Sydney was only slightly above the recent low point of 47.3% recorded over the week ending 28 June.
In Brisbane, 163 auctions were held this week, a 25.4% rise on last week and 5.8% above levels a year ago.
Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate remained historically low, with only 35.9% of auctions reporting a successful result so far, down from 43.0% a week ago (revised down to 35.4% once finalised) but well above the 23.8% recorded two weeks ago.
Overall, the nation’s auction market remains extraordinarily weak, with a dearth of buyers. As a result, dwelling values continue to decline, with the downturn spreading to all major markets except Perth.
Over the past month, dwelling values have declined by 0.9% at the 5-city aggregate level, with Sydney (-1.4%) and Melbourne (-1.3%) leading the falls and Brisbane and Adelaide (-0.4%) also declining:
Thus, Australia’s housing correction has both broadened and steepened.
