Auction clearance rates rise amid steady volumes

Of the 1,466 results collected so far, 79.2 per cent were successful, higher than last week’s final results of 73 per cent when a slightly lower 1,728 auctions were held.

Amid a prolonged lockdown, Sydney displayed resilience, with the preliminary auction rate at 80.8 per cent out of a total 685 auctions, improving on last week’s final results of 72.8 per cent across 585 auctions.

Meanwhile, withdrawn results decreased to 14 per cent from last week’s 21 per cent.

“People will look back on this lockdown and realise demand was still high as buyers remain strong,” Ray White NSW chief auctioneer Alex Pattaro said.

According to the auctioneer, the high number of buyers combined with the low number of stock has ultimately resulted in “electrifying bidding” and an overall good time to sell, with many buyers said to be bidding well above the price feedback they communicated ahead of the auction.

“The market conditions now are actually helping Sydney sellers achieve a premium result, typically well above the reserve auctions,” Mr Pattaro added.

Melbourne — which recently exited its fifth lockdown — has also started to regain its footing, with the preliminary auction rate recorded at 77.1 per cent out of 679 homes taken to auction. These figures have trumped last week’s final results of 70.8 per cent across 772 auctions.

Looking into the smaller capital cities, Canberra continued to dominate the auction market, with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 92.1 per cent from 121 auctions.

Adelaide followed with 82.5 per cent out of 118 auctions, then Brisbane with 74.8 per cent out of 184 auctions.

Despite being plunged into another snap lockdown on Saturday evening, Brisbane still managed to surpass last week’s final auction results, as did Adelaide.

Canberra, on the other hand, declined slightly by 2.5 per cent.

However, upcoming auctions in the Queensland capital could suffer a setback, with the lockdown said to run until Sunday, 8 August.