Australia’s hottest auction market revealed

Moreover, not only did auction numbers record an uplift, but the combined capital city clearance rate stood at 75.7 per cent, well above the historic average of 63.6 per cent.

“The strong result also coincided with a 6.2 per cent uplift in dwelling values across the combined capitals, well above the previous decade average quarterly growth rate of 1 per cent,” Eliza Owen, CoreLogic’s head of research, said.  

Despite the snap lockdowns, Melbourne was Australia’s hottest auction market with a total 13,693 auctions recorded, with a 73.3 per cent clearance rate.

All nine sub-regions of Melbourne saw a substantial increase in auction volumes when compared with both the previous quarter and one year ago. The city’s Inner region was the busiest, recording 2,614 auctions in the three months to June, followed by the Inner South (1,865) and the North East (1,725). 

But while Sydney saw a slightly lesser number of auctions at 12,780, its clearance rate peaked at 78.4 per cent.

However, despite a seemingly high clearance rate, CoreLogic revealed that across the harbour city, 14 of the city’s 15 sub-regions recorded a fall in clearance rates when compared with the previous quarter as volumes increased substantially.

In fact, just four of the 15 sub-regions recorded quarterly clearance rates above 80 per cent, compared with 13 in the March quarter. 

In the Sunshine State’s capital, Brisbane, a lesser 1,896 properties were auctioned in the three months to June, with 69.6 per cent successfully sold. The inner east suburb of Camp Hill was the busiest of all areas recording 38 auctions for the period.

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the highest clearance rate over the quarter was recorded in Canberra, where 88.3 per cent of properties sold under auction conditions. 

In fact, Canberra had the highest capital city clearance rate for 21 of the 24 weeks analysed through 2021 so far.