Latest NewsAuctions Running Hot with 73% ClearanceWednesday, 28 December 2016

Auction clearance rates across the country soared last month, with thousands of properties selling under the hammer and many going for well above their reserve, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.
According to figures released by RP Data, national auction clearance rates for March reached 73 per cent, up 11 percentage points from the same period last year.

And while the clearance rate rose sharply, so did the number of auctions. Up to March 28, there had been 6964 nationally compared with
4532 in March last year.

In the last week alone there was a record 2485 auctions throughout the country, with a national clearance rate of 72.8 per cent.

In the same week last year, the clearance rate was 62 per cent and there were only 1571 auctions.

RP Data research director Tim Lawless said an 11 percentage point increase in clearance rates, month on month, was a significant lift.

"When you see rates above 70 per cent, it consistently shows strong sentiment in the market," he said. "When an auction clearance rate is high, it means buyers are prepared to pay vendors a reasonable price."

Sydney architect Amy Luom recently sold her three-bedroom home in Drummoyne, in the city's inner west, at auction for $1.07 million -- well above the reserve of $1m, with 23 bids made and three bidders. More than 100 people attended the auction, and nearly 200 had inspected the house.

The strongest auction clearances have been in Melbourne, where more than 80 per cent of properties that have gone under the hammer in the past six weeks have sold.

David Scholes, the principal at Auctionworks, said Melbourne had always had a more aggressive auction mentality than other parts of the country.

A high number of auctions in Sydney was more a sign of a strong market, whereas Brisbane and other eastern seaboard and coastal areas were more attuned to private treaty sales, he said.

Properties passed in under the hammer in Sydney were often sold a couple of days later through negotiations, he said.

"The market in the (Sydney) CBD is certainly very strong," Mr Scholes said.

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