Australian Auction Clearance Rates Slip as Owners Rush Into the Market

An auctioneer counts down a bid during an auction of a residential property in Sydney, Australia, on May 8, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Successful auction rates in Australian capital cities have fallen under 70 percent as homeowners rush to list their properties to cash in on the booming market.

According to CoreLogic, 4,136 homes were taken to auction this week, making it the second busiest auction week on its records after the previous week with 4,251 auctions. During the same week of last year, there were 2,085 auctions held.

The preliminary auction results for 3,402 auctions put the preliminary clearance rate at 69.9 percent, down from 71.4 percent last week.

Melbourne was the city with the highest number of homes taken to auction this week, with 69.4 percent of auctions successful.

Sydney was the second busiest capital city for auctions, with 67.3 percent of them successful. It’s the first time since September 2020 that auction clearance rates in Sydney fell below 70 percent.

Further, final clearance rate figures are usually lower than preliminary ones. The previous Sydney preliminary clearance rates stood at 71.4 percent, which was revised down to 67.2 percent in the final figure.

It is likely the final clearance rate will fall to the lowest rate Sydney has seen all year.

Despite the falling clearance rates, CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless said the coming week could see even higher volume numbers.

“Clearly demand isn’t keeping pace with the number of auctions being held, which is one of the key reasons why we’re seeing the clearance rate drifting a little bit lower,” Lawless told The Australian.

Domain also found that Dec. 11 is set to have a record-breaking number of auctions in Sydney and Canberra and will likely be the second busiest Saturday in Melbourne and Adelaide.

This is in stark contrast to the first half of the year where demand far exceeded supply, propelling prices upwards as one of the leading factors of the property boom.

Rich Harvey, the founder of a Sydney buyer advocacy agency Propertybuyer, previously told The Epoch Times that the soaring prices were a function of supply and demand.

“COVID-19 has accelerated the demand for properties and prompted many people to bring forward their plan to buy houses,” Harvey said in April. “Low-interest rates are playing a role, but it is the government stimulus and the surplus savings in households that have enabled people to buy.”