Australian Auctions Tick Up as Clearance Rates Rebound

What happened on auction floors

Auction activity nudged higher, with the national count at 1,734 - up 1.2% from the prior week. Cotality expects volumes to top 2,000 in the next seven days.

City by city, the picture varied. Sydney's 709 auctions were roughly steady week over week. Melbourne climbed to 612, an 18.4% weekly jump. Adelaide hosted 149, the most since March.

Clearance rates and the backdrop

Clearance rates bounced, rising 4.3 percentage points to 51.5% after hitting a six year low last week. Cotality said Melbourne's almost 10 point jump played a major role in that recovery.

The results hint that a downturn that could be the worst in decades might be finding a base as buyers step in at lower prices. The pullback has been intensified by higher interest rates and tax changes for property investors announced in May. In the prior week, the Reserve Bank of Australia enacted its fifth rate increase of the year, raising the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.85% - an 18 year high.

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Why this matters for your portfolio

More auctions and better clearance rates show buyers responding to cheaper listings, a modest positive for anyone watching the housing cycle. A related chart is titled "Home Prices in Key Australia Cities Face Biggest Drop in Decades," with a note that the dotted line reflects an AMP forecast and sources listed as Cotality, ABS, AMP.

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