• Only 63.6% of Australian homes sold at auction last week, down from 66.8% in late February.
• The drop was led by Sydney and Melbourne despite fewer properties going under the hammer.
• Auction volumes will fall this week due to a long weekend in many parts of the country.

Australian auction clearance rates fell last week, reversing the upward trend that began in early February.

According to CoreLogic, only 63.6% of properties sold during the week, down from 66.8% in late February. It was also well below the 74.6% level achieved in the same corresponding week in 2017, primarily reflecting softer market conditions in Sydney and Melbourne at present.

The drop came despite fewer properties being taken to market, falling from 3,313 to 3,026 week-on-week. Of the auctions held, CoreLogic received results from 2,676.

Canberra, at 66.7%, recorded the strongest clearance rates of any capital, beating out Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide where 66.5%, 62.4% and 62.4% of properties cleared.

Both Melbourne and Sydney’s clearance rates were both down on the week despite few properties going under the hammer in each city.

“Melbourne returned a final auction clearance rate of 66.5% across 1,524 auctions, down from 70.6% the week prior when 1,606 auctions were held,” CoreLogic said.

“In Sydney, 1,088 properties went to market and a 62.4% success rate was recorded, down from 65.1% across 1,259 auctions the week prior.”

This table looks at the performance of individual regions across Sydney and Melbourne during the week.

Of the smaller capitals, CoreLogic said clearance rates improved in Canberra and Perth but fell in Adelaide, Brisbane and Tasmania.

Turning to the weekend ahead, auction volumes will drop sharply as residents in Victoria, Canberra, Adelaide and Tasmania enjoy a long weekend.

CoreLogic is currently tracking 1,524 auctions across the capitals.

Sydney will be the busiest market with 847 homes set to go under the hammer, below the level of a year earlier. Perth will be the only market where volumes will increase from a week earlier.

“Craigieburn in Victoria is the busiest suburb for auctions across the nation this week with 18 homes scheduled to go under the hammer,” CoreLogic says. “This is followed closely by St Ives and Paddington in New South Wales with 14 and 11 auctions to be held respectively.”

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