How did December fare for auctions?

This is a significant jump on the previous quarter where auction volumes were 16,730 and returned a clearance rate of 69.9 per cent.

The result is also significantly higher from the corresponding period in 2018, when the clearance rate was 43.6 per cent.

Breaking down the capital cities, clearance rates across the capital cities outperformed both the previous quarter, and the December 2018 quarter, with the exception of Melbourne and Tasmania, which delivered slightly lower clearance rates than the previous quarter at 72.8 per cent and 62.2 per cent, respectively.

Outside the capital city markets, CoreLogic said the Geelong region returned the highest clearance rate over the quarter (62.8 per cent), while the Gold Coast was the busiest region with 634 homes taken to auction.

“As prices in Sydney and Melbourne rose 6.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively, in the December quarter, a corresponding increase in auction market activity is expected,” said Eliza Owen, who heads up CoreLogic residential research.

“Vendors have been responsive to higher prices, with auction volumes up by 4.0 per cent year-on-year.”