Auction volumes
Table 1. Upcoming auction summary, October 16, 2021
| City | Auctions scheduled | Weekly change | Annual change | 5-year comparison |
| Sydney | 621 | 9.5% | -1.1% | -4.6% |
| Melbourne | 932 | 9.4% | 663.9% | -3.8% |
| Brisbane | 108 | -15% | 134.8% | 11.3% |
| Adelaide | 122 | 4.3% | 154.2% | 139.2% |
| Canberra | 67 | 0% | 76.3% | 39.6% |
| Perth | 16 | 6.7% | 77.8% | -33.3% |
| Darwin | 1 | -50% | – | -80% |
| Hobart | – | – | – | – |
| National (combined cities) | 1867 | 6.9% | 109.5% | 1.2% |
Nationally, the combined auction volume has grown 6.9 per cent compared to last week. This represents the third consecutive week volumes have risen nationally across the combined capitals.
Numbers are set to rise in most capitals, except Brisbane, Darwin and Canberra.
Weekly change in auction volumes;
- Sydney up 9.5 per cent
- Melbourne up 9.4 per cent
- Perth up 6.7 per cent
- Adelaide up 4.3 per cent
- Canberra is steady
- Brisbane is down 15 per cent
Sydney and Canberra will enter this Saturday with the ability to conduct in-person auctions, the first time they have been possible since late June and early August, respectively. In Sydney this has resulted in the city recording the highest week-on-week growth in auction listings this week compared to all other capitals, reaching the highest volume of auctions since July 24. Canberra is holding steady this Saturday from last week’s figures, but unlike Sydney, onsite inspections were only made legal on September 18, which has likely contributed to the difference between the two cities.
Auction listings in Melbourne and Canberra look to be stabilising. The weekly change in auction listings has slowed significantly from the early weeks after private inspections were allowed on September 18.
The peak in weekly growth of auction listings after private inspections were allowed from September 18:
- 116.7 per cent weekly growth in auction volumes between September 18 and October 25 in Canberra
- 151.3 per cent weekly growth in auction volumes between September 25 and October 2 in Melbourne
Sellers reacted to this change by instantly coming out of the starting blocks.
The roadmap to opening will support seller confidence, particularly in Melbourne, which has yet to reach some of its mass vaccination targets. If Melbourne follows Sydney, we can expect a rise in auction listings to continue, just not to the same extent as the growth the city went through in early October.
Figure 1. Saturday auction volume, combined capitals
As Sydney and Canberra brace for the first week of onsite auctions in months, it is insightful to see how volumes are tracking this week compared to their long-term October auction volume average. This gives a strong indication of how volumes compare this week after taking into account seasonal variation.
Upcoming Saturday volumes compared to a typical 5-year October average across the major auction markets;
- Nationally, volumes are 17.3 per cent higher
- Canberra is up 27.8 per cent
- Sydney is up 3 per cent
- Melbourne is down 0.7 per cent (typical Saturday October average analysed from 2016-2019)
Melbourne is the only city where onsite auctions remain banned. Therefore, all scheduled auctions will be conducted virtually unless sold prior, withdrawn or postponed.
Auction results
Table 2. Saturday auction results, October 9, 2021
| City | Clearance rate | Weekly change | Auctions scheduled | Auction sold | Sold prior | Withdrawn |
| Sydney | 86.5% | 4.9% | 567 | 430 | 49.5% | 9.5% |
| Melbourne | 76.6% | -1.1% | 852 | 593 | 34% | 11.8% |
| Brisbane | 87.5% | 15.2% | 127 | 84 | 22.9% | 4.2% |
| Adelaide | 88.3% | 1.5% | 117 | 91 | 16.5% | 5.8% |
| Canberra | 90.8% | 5.6% | 67 | 59 | 38.5% | 3.1% |
| National | 81.9% | 2.2% | 1,747 | 1,263 | 37.3% | 9.7% |
| * Geographies are based on ABS GCCSA geography. Auction reporting rates are 97 per cent in Canberra, 88 per cent in Sydney, 76 per cent in Brisbane, 91 per cent in Melbourne and 88 per cent in Adelaide. The results will be revised as more auction results are collected. Of the scheduled auctions in Sydney, 10 per cent were postponed. Of the scheduled auctions in Melbourne, 11 per cent were postponed. Postponed auctions are not classified as reported auctions, and therefore this has a negative impact on the reporting rate. | ||||||
Last Saturday, all cities returned a clearance rate above 80 per cent, except Melbourne, which still posted a strong result of 76.6 per cent. The results were provided on rising volumes, which suggests the market conditions are strong despite buyers finding more choices last week.
Online auctions continue to provide strong outcomes across Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
- 76.7 per cent in Melbourne
- 88 per cent in Sydney
- 87.2 per cent in Canberra
Auction clearance rates rose across most cities, rising:
- 15.2 percentage points in Brisbane
- 5.6 percentage points in Canberra
- 4.9 percentage points in Sydney
- 1.5 percentage points in Adelaide
- But declining 1.1 percentage points in Melbourne
Figure 2. Saturday clearance rate, combined capitals
Region results
Table 3. Region breakdown of auction clearance rates
| State | Region | Scheduled auction | Collected auctions | Clearance rate |
| NSW | Central Coast | 17 | 12 | 91.7% |
| NSW | Illawarra | 9 | 10 | 70% |
| NSW | Mid North Coast | 17 | 12 | 100% |
| NSW | Newcastle and Lake Macquarie | 25 | 23 | 95.7% |
| NSW | Richmond – Tweed | 12 | 10 | 80% |
| NSW | Sydney – Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury | 26 | 27 | 81.5% |
| NSW | Sydney – Blacktown | 18 | 17 | 82.4% |
| NSW | Sydney – City and Inner South | 63 | 57 | 86% |
| NSW | Sydney – Eastern Suburbs | 47 | 39 | 94.9% |
| NSW | Sydney – Inner South West | 69 | 60 | 78.3% |
| NSW | Sydney – Inner West | 54 | 53 | 94.3% |
| NSW | Sydney – North Sydney and Hornsby | 100 | 89 | 89.9% |
| NSW | Sydney – Northern Beaches | 49 | 43 | 86% |
| NSW | Sydney – Parramatta | 42 | 36 | 86.1% |
| NSW | Sydney – Ryde | 23 | 20 | 75% |
| NSW | Sydney – South West | 32 | 21 | 81% |
| NSW | Sydney – Sutherland | 19 | 15 | 93.3% |
| QLD | Brisbane – South | 37 | 30 | 96.7% |
| QLD | Brisbane – West | 15 | 12 | 91.7% |
| QLD | Brisbane Inner City | 34 | 24 | 87.5% |
| QLD | Gold Coast | 27 | 26 | 80.8% |
| SA | Adelaide – Central and Hills | 32 | 29 | 93.1% |
| SA | Adelaide – North | 31 | 26 | 84.6% |
| SA | Adelaide – South | 26 | 22 | 81.8% |
| SA | Adelaide – West | 28 | 26 | 92.3% |
| VIC | Geelong | 47 | 42 | 83.3% |
| VIC | Melbourne – Inner | 176 | 149 | 69.1% |
| VIC | Melbourne – Inner East | 115 | 110 | 80% |
| VIC | Melbourne – Inner South | 125 | 110 | 80.9% |
| VIC | Melbourne – North East | 120 | 114 | 75.4% |
| VIC | Melbourne – North West | 80 | 77 | 76.6% |
| VIC | Melbourne – Outer East | 63 | 59 | 78% |
| VIC | Melbourne – South East | 64 | 53 | 79.2% |
| VIC | Melbourne – West | 83 | 81 | 76.5% |
| VIC | Mornington Peninsula | 26 | 21 | 85.7% |
Methodology
The Domain auction clearance rate is the percentage of properties successfully sold prior to or at an auction. The clearance rate is calculated by dividing auction sales by the number of reported auctions, including those withdrawn or postponed.
Domain aims to collect all auction outcomes, which can take longer in some states. Clearance rates for cities with a reporting rate below 95 per cent are considered to be preliminary. Perth, Hobart and Darwin are not included either due to the low volumes of scheduled auctions or the lag-time in collections.
Auctions scheduled: The number of all auctions scheduled for the day, including those that were withdrawn from auction at the last minute. Reporting rate: The number of auction results collected by Domain out of the total auctions. Auction sold: Property sold under auction conditions or prior to auction. Withdrawn: Property did not go to auction. Passed in: Property did not sell at auction. For the purpose of calculating auction clearance rates, properties sold after auction are considered to be passed-in.
