Auctions have remained unseasonably high for the start of winter with strong stock levels coming to market and buoyant interest from buyers.
Clearance rates have also remained strong.
According to CoreLogic, 2074 capital city homes were taken to auction last week, which is 15.8 per cent higher than the 1791 taken to auction at this time last year.
The preliminary clearance rate came in at 72.4 per cent, which is also well up on the 68.6 per cent achieved a year ago.
CoreLogic Australia Research Analyst, Caitlin Fono, said Sydney and Melbourne recorded the highest auction volumes.
“There were 829 auctions held in Sydney returning a preliminary clearance rate of 70.7 per cent, down 4.3 percentage points on the week prior,” she said.
“The previous week saw 812 homes taken to auction across the city, while 724 auctions were held this time last year.
“Across Melbourne, 920 homes were taken to auction last week, compared to 1,083 over the previous week and 744 one year ago.
“Melbourne’s preliminary clearance rate came in at 72.9 per cent, up 2.7 percentage points from the previous week.
“This is the second highest preliminary clearance rate so far this year, behind the week ending 11th of February (73.1 per cent).
“Across the smaller auction markets, Adelaide recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate (84.7 per cent), followed by Canberra (76.5 per cent) and Brisbane (66 per cent).
“There were 131 auctions held across Brisbane, followed closely by Adelaide (126). Canberra saw 52 homes taken to auction, while there were just 13 auctions in Perth and three in Tasmania.”
Ray White held just shy of 400 auctions on Saturday and recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 71 per cent nationally.
Ray White New South Wales State Auctioneer, Perry Edmondson-Clark, said the auction market was bucking its traditional winter cool down.
“I look at our internal Ray White auction team data and, May and June have traditionally been the quietest months,” he said.
“But in the May of 2024 we had our personal best. So more auctions in the May of 2024 than in spring of 2023.
“It’s definitely considerably up on last year, but it’s also up historically as well.”
Mr Edmondson-Clark said Spring had sprung a bit early, perhaps due to solid interest from buyers.
“We are seeing more stock coming on the market,” he said.
“My opinion is that there are plenty of buyers around, so the sellers are going, ‘There’s still good buyer activity happening now, so why wait until spring’.”
One property that performed well at auction over the weekend was 49 Gordon St, Rosebery, which sold under the hammer for $2.41 million.
It had a reserve of $2.2 million.
Ray White Park Coast East Agent Michael Levy said he pulled the auction forward a week due to strong interest.
“We had 40 groups through on the first weekend in the pouring rain, and all up we had more than 100 groups through as it’s a nice family home,” he said.
Mr Edmondson-Clark said the fact interest rates had remained steady for a while had given buyers more confidence, particularly as there was no change to their borrowing capacity.
