Auction activity continues to fall as Melbourne remains in lockdown

It’s a downward revision from the 3,101 auctions predicted earlier in the week, largely due to the extension of Melbourne’s lockdown.

In comparison, there were 2,905 homes taken to auction the previous week, but only 711 this time last year.

The extended circuit breaker meant Sydney saw a higher number of auctions take place than Melbourne, recording 1,171.

Even with restrictions, the Victorian capital managed 1,098 auctions.

The smaller capital cities continued to see significantly lower auction volumes, with Brisbane at 152, Adelaide at 149, Canberra at 101, Perth at 16 and Tasmania at four.

Canberra was the only capital city to report a boost on the previous week’s numbers.

Of the 2,223 results collected so far across the combined capitals, 73.5 per cent were successful – a slight drop from the previous week’s final clearance rate of 73.5 per cent.

Sydney recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate at 79.6 per cent, followed by Canberra with 78.5 per cent, Adelaide with 73.3 per cent, Brisbane with 69 per cent, Melbourne with 67.3 per cent and Perth with 61.5 per cent.

Only Adelaide and Perth saw increases in clearance rates, jumping up by 4 per cent and 26 per cent from last week, respectively.

Despite the auction market sliding down over the past few weeks, Ray White New South Wales chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro said the market is still rife with interest from both buyers and sellers.

“Buyer numbers are plateauing, but that’s normal for this time of the year. We are moving into a traditional winter selling season where we believe many agents and sellers have forgotten what a traditional selling season is – which is lower numbers and only quality buyers.

“Sellers’ expectations are still high, but when buyers are presented with competition, they are still likely to try to meet the marketplace,” according to Mr Pattaro.

Ray White Victoria and Tasmania CEO Stephen Dullens also remains optimistic about the future of market conditions despite the current impacts of the snap lockdown.

“What a difference a year makes with – this time last year there was much uncertainty around property and the real estate outlook. Fast forward 12 months and these are some of the best conditions we have seen across our 119 year history,” he said.

Home values

Looking at the weekly change in home values, CoreLogic pointed to a 0.4 per cent growth in combined capital city values over the week ending 6 June 2021, with Sydney leading the charge with a 0.5 per cent per cent rise, followed by Brisbane and Melbourne with 0.4 per cent and Adelaide with 0.3 per cent. Perth remained stable.

Month-on-month, the data saw Sydney maintain its lead with a 2.6 per cent increase, followed by Brisbane with 1.9 per cent, Melbourne with 1.6 per cent, Adelaide with 1.5 per cent and Perth with 0.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, year-to-date changes pointed to Sydney still winning the race, further widening its gap from other capital cities with a lift of 13 per cent – making it the only capital city with double-digit growth. Brisbane followed with 9 per cent, then Melbourne with 8.5 per cent, Adelaide with 7.4 per cent and Perth with 7.0 per cent.

Over the most recent four-week period, Sydney and Canberra clocked the highest capital city private treaty median prices for houses at $900,000 and $830,000, respectively.

Sydney also held the pole position for units, with a private treaty median of $656,000, while Melbourne followed with an average figure of $588,875.

On the other hand, Adelaide was the most affordable capital city for houses and units, with the private treaty median prices sitting at $502,000 and $382,500, respectively.

Private treaty sales represented around 85 per cent of all dwelling sales across the country, according to CoreLogic.

Average time on market for houses was shortest in Hobart at 24 days, followed by Sydney with 26 days, Melbourne with 30 days, Adelaide with 31 days, Canberra and Brisbane with 32 days, and Perth and Darwin with 37 days.

For units, Hobart recorded the lowest number at 28 days, while Brisbane was the highest at 49 days, followed by Melbourne (40), Adelaide (38), Perth (37), Canberra (37), Sydney (36) and Darwin (35).