Clearance rates remain below 60%

Corelogic data revealed that around the country, there were 1,818 homes taken under the hammer this past week, which was a 7.6 per cent increase on the previous week's 1,689 and a 5.2 per cent jump on the figures from this time last year (1,728).

This week’s preliminary clearance rate of 56.1 per cent is a slight improvement on last week's rate of 56.4 per cent, which was revised down to 53 per cent, the lowest recorded since early May 2020.

This marks the seventh consecutive week that the national preliminary clearance rate has remained below 60 per cent.

Melbourne, the busiest capital nationwide, held 712 auctions during the week, up from the 675 of the previous week. So far, 595 results have been collected, with 57 per cent of those returning a positive result — up 1.4 per cent from the week prior.

The Mornington Peninsula edged out the Victorian capital’s outer east for the accolade of best performing sub-region, ending the week with a 68.8 per cent preliminary clearance rate from 20 auctions.

Meanwhile, the city’s north-west saw just 43.5 per cent of its 75 auctions return a positive result, making it the city’s poorest performing area.

The harbour city, Sydney, saw 678 homes go under the hammer during the past week, a small increase on the 638 seen the week before. With 56.6 per cent of the 530 results collected so far reported as positive, the city’s preliminary clearance rate has taken a small drop from the 56.9 per cent of the week prior.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs was its strongest performing sub-region, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 67.4 per cent from 51 total auctions, whereas Blacktown was its weakest performer, with just 41.2 per cent of the 27 auctions registering a positive result.

Among the smaller capitals, Adelaide was the only major city in the country to record a preliminary clearance rate above 60 per cent. The South Australian capital hosted 133 auctions during the week and returned a preliminary clearance rate of 71.1 per cent.

However, the busiest of the smaller capitals was Brisbane, where 182 homes went under the hammer. Despite this high volume, just 39.6 per cent returned a positive result.

In Canberra, a total of 97 auctions resulted in a preliminary clearance rate of 59.2 per cent.

Perth hosted 16 auctions, with 36.4 per cent returning a positive result while no auctions were held in Tasmania.

[Related: Clearance rates fall for sixth consecutive week: Corelogic]