With 706 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities, the auction market slowly jumps as house prices continue to fall.

Sales kick back in as vendors adjust to the 2023 market. Find out which cities are gearing up early this year.

Preliminary total auction rate

Based on CoreLogic’s data, auction activities ramped up by 180.2% from the previous week’s record of 252 as 706 homes went under the hammer across the combined capitals. Despite the increase this week, records were still under last year’s auction numbers.

In Melbourne, 259 homes were taken to auction. While this was higher compared to last week’s record of 71, it was a bit lower than the same time last year (394).

Up from 56 last week, Sydney held 202 auctions, but this was down from the same time last year when 331 homes went under the hammer.

Of the smaller capitals, Adelaide had the busiest auction market as it recorded 105 auctions while Brisbane came in second with 98.

Meanwhile, Canberra had 36 homes for auction, and Perth and Tasmania only had 3 this week.

Preliminary total clearance rate 

Of the 453 results collected so far, the combined capital cities recorded a 67.9% preliminary auction clearance rate. However, CoreLogic noted the possibility of having a lower final clearance rate after tallying the final figures.

Melbourne’s early clearance rate marked 68.3% – slightly up from this time last year when 67.5% of the auctions were successful.

So far, Sydney recorded a 71.6% early clearance rate, which was a bit lower than the same time last year when 66.3% returned successfully.

Adelaide had the strongest preliminary clearance rate among the smaller capital cities with a record of 76.8%. Coming in second was Brisbane with 59.6%. Meanwhile, Canberra had a 52.2% early clearance rate.

According to Caitlin Fono, CoreLogic’s SR associate, research support, “The number of homes taken to auction will continue to rise over the coming weeks, with over 1,300 auctions expected to be held next week across the combined capitals, which will provide clarity on whether buyer confidence has increased.”

2023 Property Market

With the expectations of more rate hikes in the coming months and headline inflation reaching 7.8% in December, property prices may further drop after the national housing values hit the sharpest decline of -8.40% on 7 January 2023.

Based on CoreLogic’s executive research director, Tim Lawless, “Vendors have had a chance to adjust their price expectations to the market downturn, which has now been ongoing for almost a year in Sydney and Melbourne and about seven months in the other capital cities.”

To get a leg up the property ladder this 2023, here are the 12 steps of buying a home from It’s Simple’s managing director, Joseph Daoud:

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Source: CoreLogic