Combined capital cities fail the big weekend as early clearance rates drop despite recording the busiest auction week since late May.

2,667 homes were taken to auction this week, but only 57.9% of them were successful – making it the lowest preliminary clearance rate since the week ending 24th July.

Preliminary total auction rate

According to CoreLogic, up by 5.1% from the previous week’s record of 2,537, capital cities held the busiest auction week since late May with 2,667 homes under the hammer. While auction activities continued to heat up, this was way lower compared to last year when a record-breaking 4,981 homes were taken to auction. 

Melbourne recorded its busiest auction week since mid-June with 1,182 homes. This was a 2.1% increase from last week’s record of 1,158 but -49% lower than this time last year when 2,318 homes were up. 

Meanwhile, Sydney also recorded its busiest auction week since late May as 960 homes went under the hammer. This was a 7.7% increase from the previous week when the city recorded 891 auctions.

Of the smaller capitals, Adelaide held the record for the busiest market with 189 homes, closely followed by Brisbane with 180 and Canberra with 142. In Perth, 12 homes were taken to auction while Tasmania recorded two. 

Preliminary total clearance rate 

Despite auction activities heating up, the preliminary clearance rate across the combined capital cities dropped by -4%. This marked the lowest preliminary clearance rate since the week ending 24th July as only 57.9% of the 2,024 results collected so far were successful. 

In Melbourne, the preliminary clearance rate was down by -3%. Of the 946 results collected, 59.4% were successful. This was also smaller compared to this time last year when 63.3% of the auctions succeeded.

Of the 735 results collected so far, Sydney had a success rate of 58.5%, which was a -6.3% decrease from the previous week’s preliminary clearance rate of 64.8%. This time last year, the city had a 60.8% clearance rate. 

Meanwhile, Adelaide recorded the most successful preliminary clearance rate of the smaller capital cities this week with 65.5%, followed by Canberra with 57.1% and Brisbane with 41%. Then, Perth had one successful auction of the eight results collected so far. 

Australia’s annual dwelling values declined by -3.2%

Based on CoreLogic’s latest Housing Chart Pack, national dwelling values fell by -3.2% in 12 months, making it the biggest annual fall since September 2019.

As November marked the 7th consecutive month of decline, national home values dropped by -3.5% in the three months. This was lower compared to the three months to October. 

As stated by Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s research director, “Potentially we are seeing the initial uncertainty around buying in a higher interest rate environment wearing off, while persistently low advertised stock levels have likely contributed to this trend towards smaller value falls,”

“However, it’s fair to say housing risk remains skewed to the downside while interest rates are still rising and household balance sheets become more thinly stretched.”

With another rate jump this year and the RBA still flagging the possibility of further rate hikes next year, Lawless suggested that the pace could still pick up: “Next year will be a particular test of serviceability and housing market stability, as the record-low fixed rate terms secured in 2021 start to expire.”

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Source: CoreLogic