Clearance rates still feeling the pinch of elevated auction volumes

Sydney has again been the city hardest hit by the ongoing spring selling season, with the harbour city recording another disappointing clearance rate compared to its recent standards.

According to figures from CoreLogic RP Data, across Australia 3,087 auctions were held last week with the preliminary clearance rate sitting at 60.8%.

One thousand and eighty of those auctions were held in Sydney, where the preliminary clearance rate sits at 59.3%.

If there is no improvement in the preliminary figure, it will represent the third straight week that the Sydney auction market has failed to produce a clearance rate of 60% or above after final results of 58% and 58.3% over the preceding two weeks.

This week’s clearance rate for Sydney was substantially lower than the 71.8% from 1,337 auctions recording during the same week last year.

The Eastern Suburbs sub-region was Sydney’s best performer this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 82.6%.

While it is currently outperforming Sydney, Melbourne has also felt the impact of elevated auction volumes.

Last week, the Victorian capital was host to 1,477 auctions and the city’s preliminary clearance rate sits at 64.7%.

The previous week’s clearance rate finalised at 69.8% and this week’s results will make five straight weeks of the city’s clearance rate failing to break 70%.

So far, the North East was Melbourne’s strongest performing sub-region last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 71.9%

While it may have been a tough week for the two biggest markets in the country, there were some positives for the smaller markets.

Brisbane’s preliminary clearance rate sits at 43.6% which, if there is no downward revision, will represent an increase on the previous week’s final result of 39.5%.

Adelaide recorded a clearance rate of 66.7 % across 141 auctions last week, up from 52.4 from the previous week, while Canberra’s preliminary clearance rate of 63.6% is marginally higher than last week’s final result.

Perth’s clearance rate has seen a week-on-week drop, with the preliminary clearance rate at 36.4%, compared to the previous week’s final result of 44.4%.

In Tasmania, one sale has been reported from five auctions.

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