More than 1000 homes went under the hammer on a sunny weekend in Melbourne this week, as Australia’s biggest auction city proved it was still capable of solid results against rising auction volumes.
The city cleared 70.5% on the weekend off 1005 auctions, slightly down compared to 76.6% last week, according to RP Data.
Auction volumes are up in Melbourne compared to last year, with five homes sold at auction so far this year for every four properties sold last year.
Melbourne has already experienced 12 weekends with numbers over 1000 this year, while 2013 only saw volumes rise that high 11 times.
“There will definitely be a few more weekends above 1000 between the [AFL] grand final and Christmas,” says RP Data Victorian housing market specialist Robert Larocca told SmartCompany.
“The increased volumes are not troubling buyers in any way.”
Larocca says this weekend will see another surge in auctions across Victoria, as vendors rush to get in before the AFL grand final the following week.
The national clearance rate was slightly down from last week (74.4%) and was sitting at a preliminary 70.8%.
It was lifted by another stellar week on the Sydney property market, which saw 78.3% of the 741 properties on offer sell.
Larocca says Sydney auction volumes are 47% higher than last year.
“It’s quite incredible to look at the numbers in Sydney. Auctions have clearly become the selling method in this current market,” he says.
Across the country, auction numbers have risen in every capital city compared to the same time last year.
Adelaide and Canberra are the next biggest cities after Melbourne and Sydney in terms of rising auction volumes, up 25% and 28% respectively on last year.
Adelaide also posted a strong 62.7% clearance this week from its 88 properties, while Canberra cleared 52.0% off 47 auctions.
“Adelaide and Canberra are reflecting the current state of the market, but it’s way too early to predict a longer-term shift towards the auction sales method in those cities,” says Larocca.
He says Perth also doesn’t have enough of an auction market to mine any real data, with just 10 auctions held at the weekend.
Brisbane again struggled to clear its 133 properties under the hammer, with just 49.4% changing hands.
Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
