Spring has proved to be a busy period in the last quarter of 2019 with more homes being auctioned than the three previous ones. All CoreLogic and SQM Research property advisors expect the property market to gain traction in 2020. The Quarterly Auction Report shows that the number of selling increase and clearance rates listings across the combined capital cities reached a success rate of 70 percent in Quarter 4.
Sydney 75 percent and Melbourne 73 percent registered the best outcomes. That was an increase in Quarter 4 of 2018 when only 44 percent of homes sold under the hammer were sold nationwide. Geelong returned the highest clearance rate outside capital cities 63 percent, Wollongong recorded 53 percent, and the Hunter region 54 percent.
Except for Melbourne and Tasmania, clearance rates across capital cities outperformed both the preceding quarter and the quarter of December 2018. Nevertheless, over the three months to December 2019, Melbourne saw the clearance rate rising year-on-year, the clearance rate for the city increased to 72.8%, marginally lower than the previous quarter 73.5%.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher says: “I think we’re going to see more sellers come to the market this year overall because they are now more confident that they’re going to get their target sale price with the increase in buyer demand”.
Eliza Owen who is the head of residential research at CoreLogic, “As prices in Sydney and Melbourne rose 6.2% and 6.1% respectively in the December quarter, a corresponding increase in auction market activity is expected. Vendors have been responsive to higher prices, with auction volumes up by 4.0% year on year.”
