The auction market will start to gather momentum coming into February after the seasonal slowdown over the holiday period, with auction numbers doubling over the week across the combined capital cities. There were 867 auctions being tracked by CoreLogic this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 70.8 per cent, compared to last week’s 71.6 per cent across 368 auctions. Although auction activity has shown a significant uplift over the week across the combined capitals; auction volumes are increasing at a slower rate than what was seen over the corresponding period last year, when 916 auctions were recorded with a similar rate of clearance (70.1 per cent). The lower volumes can be attributed to slower activity across the Sydney market, which was also evident over the same week last year, when volumes were lower over the given period compared to previous years. While the combined capital city clearance rate returned a strong result over the week, as auction numbers continue to gather pace we will get a clearer understanding if auction trends remain as strong as they were at the end of 2016.
