Auction clearances in capital cities fall by 6.8%

CoreLogic’s latest Quarterly Auction Market Review shows that the combined capital city auction clearance rate was 57.8 per cent in the quarter ending on 30 June 2018, a decrease of 6.8 per cent from the previous quarter.

It is also the lowest quarterly figure since 50.9 per cent was recorded in December 2012, according to the property data and analytics company.

A total of 25,824 homes were taken to auction across all capital cities during the June quarter, compared to 20,701 in the March quarter and 29,231 in the June 2017 quarter.

CoreLogic said that the decrease in auction volumes and clearance rates coincide with declining dwelling values in “auction-centric cities”.

Clearance rates fell in Adelaide by 5.1 per cent during the April–June quarter to 60.6 per cent, in Brisbane by 6.2 per cent to 42.8 per cent, in Canberra by 1 per cent to 66.9 per cent, in Melbourne by 7.3 per cent to 61.1 per cent, in Perth by 3.4 per cent to 31.3 per cent, and in Sydney by 7.6 per cent to 56 per cent.

Tasmania was the only region to see an improved auction clearance rate over the quarter, going from 51 per cent in the March quarter to 57.1 per cent in the June quarter.

The largest number of auctions took place in Melbourne (12,330), followed by Sydney (9,312), while the best-performing suburbs within these cities were Reservoir (204) and Randwick (130), respectively.

Brisbane ranked third based on auction volume (1,574), with Sunnybank Hills the highest-ranking suburb within the city (47), and Adelaide came in fourth (1,176), with Prospect topping the list (25).

Regions that saw the least number of auctions take place in the June quarter were Canberra (924), Perth (453) and Tasmania (55).

The best clearance rates were seen in Sydenham in Melbourne (86.7 per cent), Northbridge in Sydney (85 per cent), Kambah in Canberra (78.3 per cent), Paddington in Brisbane (68.2 per cent) and Prospect in Adelaide (63.6 per cent).

Across the non-capital city markets, Geelong had the highest clearance rate in the June quarter, coming in at 70.2 per cent across 553 auctions, compared to 83.3 per cent across 458 auctions in the March quarter.

The Gold Coast had the highest number of auctions, 653, among the non-capital city markets, but the clearance rate in the area was 26.4 per cent, making it the worst-performing regional auction market.

The Sunshine Coast (36.4 per cent), Wollongong (38.8 per cent) and Hunter (49.3 per cent) also ranked poorly based on their auction clearances.

[Related: Residents flee Sydney in search of affordable homes]