Auction markets hit record year as listings surge

Australia’s auction markets stood firm despite the challenges of the pandemic, marking its busiest auction year on record.

According to CoreLogic, Australia hosted 116,684 auctions over the year to 19 December, overtaking 2017 as the busiest year on record.

The report also showed that over the past week, 4,756 homes went under the hammer across capital cities, the second busiest week since records began in 2008.

The past week also marked the fourth consecutive week where more than 4,000 capital city homes have been taken to auction, a feat that was never achieved before.

Given the volume of the homes listed for auction, clearance rates continued to trend lower.

Of the collected results over the previous week, 63.4% proceeded to a sale. This was down from the preliminary success rate of 66.6% during the preceding week.

Melbourne hosted the highest number of auctions over the previous week, with 2,140 homes going under the hammer.

Meanwhile, Canberra registered the highest clearance rate at 73%. This, however, was lower than the 87.6% it achieved during the same period last year.

The smaller markets of Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth recorded higher clearance rates from a year ago, along with a significant increase in auction activity.

CoreLogic analyst Caitlin Fono said auction activity is set to slow sharply over the coming weeks as the year ends.

“Activity doesn’t normally rebound until late January or early February, however we could see an earlier start to the season if the December momentum carries through to 2022,” she said.

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Photo by @ekaterina-bolovtsova on Unsplash.