The first week of August saw fewer auctions held across the combined capital cities, with 1,846 held, down from the 1,987 auctions held the previous week, however higher than the 1,540 auctions one year ago. The preliminary auction clearance rose to 71.5 per cent, after the previous week saw the final auction clearance rate fall slightly to 68.7 per cent (revised lower from a preliminary clearance of 70.7%).
Over the last month, auction volumes have remained relatively steady and while clearance rates have shown a softening, final results have been consistently in the high 60 per cent range since the first week of June. Across the two larger auction markets, Melbourne continues to show resilience to softening conditions relative to Sydney, with Melbourne’s clearance rate sitting in the mid-high 70 per cent range for another week (75.7 per cent), while Sydney’s preliminary auction clearance rate increased over the week (71.5 per cent). Last week Sydney recorded its lowest rate of clearance so far this year (65.4 per cent).
