The combined capital city preliminary clearance rate remained in the high 70 per cent range over the week, despite auction volumes reaching the highest level so far this year. There were 2,280 dwellings taken to auction this week, significantly increasing from 1,591 over the previous week, with 77.0 per cent of auctions reported as successful. The larger number of auctions was driven by a substantial rise across the Sydney and Melbourne markets, while the number of auctions held actually saw a decrease across the smaller capital cities over the week. The strongest clearance rates, based on preliminary data, were in Sydney and Canberra, where 83.5 per cent and 81.5 per cent of auctions returned a successful result. Melbourne also recorded a strong preliminary clearance rate, with 76.7 per cent of auctions clearing. The preliminary combined capital city clearance rate was higher this week than what was seen over the same period last year, however, the number of auctions held was lower, with 2,347 auctions held over the same week last year, returning a 71.8 per cent clearance rate.
