Auction activity remains strong; new listings are up

CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator for the week ending 17 September 2023 has revealed a rise of 2.6 per cent in capital city auction activity (2,334) following a drop of 0.5 per cent the week prior.

This week overtook the week ending 2 September (2,286) as the capitals’ busiest week since early April and the third busiest of the year to date, with auction numbers rising or holding steady across five of the seven capitals.

However, the combined capital’s preliminary clearance rate fell to its lowest level in 20 weeks, with 70.1 per cent of the 1,821 results collected so far returning successful results. According to CoreLogic, this was primarily driven by an increase in the withdrawal rate at 10.1 per cent.

Although this was a fall of 1.6 percentage points compared to the week prior, it was still 10 percentage points higher than the final result recorded this period in 2022, when 60.1 per cent of auctions were successful.

New listings up for the first time since last year

Meanwhile, the PropTrack Listings Report for August 2023 revealed that property markets had a “busier-than-usual” end to the winter season, with properties hitting the market during August at a higher rate than the year prior.

According to PropTrack, this marked the first time national new listings increased year on year since August 2022.

Month on month, new listings on realestate.com.au were up 20.5 per cent nationally in August and up 4.1 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The states leading the surge were Sydney and Melbourne, both recording their busiest end to winter in over 10 years, with listings up 18.4 per cent and 20.8 per cent, respectively.

PropTrack senior economist Angus Moore said this activity is likely to continue increasing over the spring selling season, reaching the “typical peak in October and November”.

“After a quieter first half of 2023, property market activity appears to be picking up in Sydney and Melbourne, with both markets busier than typical in August. Activity in many other capitals has also increased but remains subdued compared to a year ago,” Mr Moore added.

Indeed, unlike Sydney and Melbourne, the other capitals still lagged the pace set in August 2022, with the largest declines seen in Brisbane, recording a decline of 10.4 per cent year on year, followed by Perth (8.6 per cent) and Darwin (5.4 per cent).

“Selling conditions and home prices have also improved compared to late 2022. Home prices nationally have continued to recover, posting their eighth consecutive month of growth in August.

“Home prices nationally are now just 0.8 per cent below the March 2022 peak. Auction clearance rates remained solid through winter and have improved from the levels recorded in late 2022,” Mr Moore said.

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