Auction activity ramps up as over 1,300 homes go under the hammer this week while the housing downturn eases in January across the combined capital cities.

Preliminary total auction rate

Based on CoreLogic’s data, auction activities further jumped by 83.9% from the previous week’s record of 710 as 1,306 homes were auctioned off across the combined capitals. However, this was -26.6% lower compared to last year’s record of 1,779.

In Melbourne, 409 homes were taken to auction. While this was higher compared to last week’s record of 267, it was a bit lower than at the same time last year (582).

Up from 202 last week, Sydney held 420 auctions – this was down from last year when 600 homes went under the hammer.

Of the smaller capitals, Brisbane had the busiest auction market as it recorded 189 auctions while Canberra came in second with 142.

Meanwhile, Adelaide had 131 homes for auction, Perth recorded 14 and Tasmania only had one auction this week.

Preliminary total clearance rate 

While the auction volume increased, clearance rates fell by 50 basis points this week. Based on the 938 results collected so far, the combined capital cities recorded a 67.4% preliminary auction clearance rate. This was down compared to last year’s record of 72.5%.

So far, Melbourne’s early clearance rate marked 67.1% – slightly lower from last week’s record when 68.3% (revised down to 62.2%) of the auctions were successful. Last year, the city reported a 74.7% success rate.

From the 330 results collected at the moment, Sydney recorded a 70.6% early clearance rate, which dropped from last week (71.6%) and the same time last year (72.7%).

Adelaide still had the strongest preliminary clearance rate among the smaller capital cities with a record of 79.1%. Canberra’s record also jumped to 71.6% while Brisbane had a 51.9% early clearance rate.

Caitlin Fono, CoreLogic’s SR associate, mentioned that “it looks like auction markets have reset a little higher through 2023, although clearance rates remain well below long term average levels,”

“At this stage we are expecting to see around 1,500 capital city homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities next week.”

National home values dropped further by -1.0% in January

After recording its steepest decline of -8.40% on 7 January 2023, national home values further fell by -1.0% in January, CoreLogic’s Home Value Index revealed.

According to CoreLogic’s executive research director, Tim Lawless, this ease of decline may suggest that some momentum has left the downturn.

“The quarterly trend in housing values is clearly pointing to a reduction in the pace of decline across most regions, however at -1.0% over the month and -3.2% over the rolling quarter, national housing values are still falling quite rapidly compared to previous downturns,” said Lawless.

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Source: CoreLogic