Unit auctions stronger than houses during first week of winter

The clearance rate is an improvement from last week, which was the lowest rate since early 2013 at 56.2 per cent. This is down from the same time a year ago, which saw a clearance rate of 69.8 per cent, but was the first week where clearance rates began to decline.

Despite the smaller number of units going to market than houses, units were more successful, with 55 per cent of houses and 63.7 per cent of units successful at auction. The reasoning behind this, according to the CoreLogic Weekend Market Summary, is due to the current overall decline in house values.

“It’s more evident in recent months with the success rate of the unit market maintaining strength relative to the falls across the house segment,” the summary noted.

Sydney’s initial clearance rate declined to 52.3 per cent from 56.1 per cent, out of 830 homes, with 554 houses selling at a clearance rate of 48.2 per cent, while 276 units sold at a clearance rate of 60.4 per cent.

Melbourne’s results were a bit more successful with an overall clearance rate rising to 61.6 per cent out of 1,079 homes, with 726 houses selling at a clearance rate of 58.3 per cent and 351 per cent of units selling at a clearance rate of 68.5 per cent.

Of the comparatively smaller major markets, Adelaide was the strongest at a clearance rate of 68.2 per cent and Perth was the weakest with a clearance rate of 26.7 per cent out of 24 homes.