Could Sydney’s COVID outbreak lead to auction anxiety?

The current numbers are set to surpass the previous week’s 2,400 auctions across the combined capital cities. Over the same week last year, just 1,485 auctions took place.

However, the introduction of new restrictions in Sydney following the latest COVID outbreak may cause some downward revision in the actual number of auctions held, CoreLogic has conceded.

Comparing capital cities, Melbourne appears set to surpass Sydney for the first time in a little while, with 1,431 auctions pencilled in – up substantially from last week’s 788 and last year’s 645.

Should all auctions in Melbourne go ahead, the Victorian capital could see its second busiest week of 2021.

“The winter market is yet to cool down for us as we’re still seeing plenty of buyer interest, and it’s not looking like it’s going to slow down anytime soon,” according to Ray White Cheltenham director Kevin Chokshi.

Despite losing its crown, Sydney follows Melbourne quite closely with 1,153 scheduled auctions – slightly lower than last week’s 1,157 but still higher than the same period last year, when just 644 auctions took place.

The smaller capital cities continue to anticipate significantly fewer auctions, with Brisbane at 174, Adelaide at 151, Canberra at 109, Perth at 23, and Tasmania at two.

All capital cities except Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne report a decline on the previous week’s numbers.

Last week’s results

Over the week ending 13 June 2021, some capital cities saw an improvement in clearance rates as auction volumes recovered.

CoreLogic revealed a final auction clearance rate of 74.1 per cent out of 2,400 homes taken to auction across combined capital cities – increasing from the previous week’s 73.6 per cent out of 1,413 homes.

Canberra was most successful, with the highest final clearance rate of 83 per cent resulting from 106 auctions.

Sydney followed with 76.8 per cent out of 1,157 auctions, then Adelaide with 75.4 per cent out of 142 auctions, Brisbane with 74.6 per cent out of 187 auctions, Melbourne with 69 per cent out of 788 auctions, and Perth with 55.6 per cent out of 18 auctions.

Of the major capital cities, only Sydney and Brisbane saw higher clearance rates compared with last week.