The auction clearance rate in Sydney over the weekend went below 70% for the first time in 8 weeks, raising questions about the strength of the property market. Clearance rates were low across the board, with Brisbane below 50% for the second consecutive week.
The figures come on the back of a strong increase in auction clearance rates over the last few weeks, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, where rates have been climbing steadily since December.
With the long weekend, the number of properties listed was down materially, with APM reporting just 335 properties listed for auction in the four major capitals, down from a huge 1,312 last week.
In Sydney the most expensive property sold at auction was a four bedroom home in Abbortsford, which sold for $4.15 million. The most affordable was a two bedroom unit in Mount Druitt which went for $250,000.
In Melbourne the figures were closer together, with the most expensive property going under the hammer at $1.13 million and the cheapest selling for $290,000.
Notwithstanding the dip in the auction clearance rates, last weekend still compared pretty favourably to the corresponding weekend last year (Table 3). In 2012, none of the major cities managed to sell more than 50% of properties at auction, with Adelaide achieving a clearance rate of just 13.3%!
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