Auction activity set to surge across major capitals
Auction volumes across Australia’s capital cities are set to reach their highest levels in over three years, with property data and analytics provider Cotality reporting that 3,189 homes are scheduled to go under the hammer this week.
This marks the second-busiest auction week of 2024, and the most active since the pre-Easter period last year. The figure also represents a 51.2% increase compared to last week’s 2,109 scheduled auctions, and is also higher than the 2,848 auctions held during the same week in 2023.
Sydney is poised for its busiest auction week since before Easter 2022, with 1,290 homes listed for auction. This is up from 1,094 last week and 1,062 at this time last year. Melbourne will see 1,391 auctions, a significant rise from last week’s 502, which was impacted by the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and a 4.6% increase on the 1,330 auctions held a year ago.
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane is expected to be the most active, with 217 auctions scheduled, slightly up from 215 last week. Canberra will see 139 auctions, an increase from 132, while Adelaide’s auction numbers have dipped to 134 from 144 the previous week. Perth will host 15 auctions, down from 21, and Tasmania will see three auctions this week.
“Next week will see auction activity rise further, with around 3,250 homes set to go under the hammer across the combined capitals,” said Caitlin Fono, research analyst at Cotality.
Last week’s results reflected a lower volume of auctions, with 2,109 homes taken to market across the capitals, largely due to the Melbourne Cup Carnival. The week prior saw 3,236 auctions, the highest since the pre-Easter period in 2023, while 1,972 auctions were held during the same week last year.
The final clearance rate for last week was 65.8%, the lowest since late June, and slightly below the previous week’s 66.7%. One year ago, the clearance rate stood at 56.3%.
Melbourne recorded 502 auctions last week, a sharp drop from 1,836 the week before, which had been the city’s busiest since December 2021. This time last year, 474 auctions were held. Melbourne’s clearance rate fell to 61.2%, its lowest in 27 weeks, compared to 67.4% the previous week and 58.1% a year earlier.
Sydney saw 1,094 auctions last week, making it the city’s fourth-busiest week of 2024. The previous week had 957 auctions, while 1,036 were held during the same week last year. Sydney’s clearance rate reached 66.3%, up from 65.3% the week prior and higher than last year’s 57.2%.
Clearance rates improved across all smaller capitals. Adelaide posted the highest rate at 77.1%, up from 73.6%. Brisbane’s rate rose to 68.8% from 65.4%, and Canberra’s increased to 62.1% from 61.1%. Perth saw a clearance rate of 66.7%, up from 58.8%, and Tasmania’s sole auction was successful. Brisbane led the smaller capitals in auction activity, followed by Adelaide, Canberra, and Perth.
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