The number of auctions shot up 40 per cent to 26,923 over the December quarter, recording a national clearance rate of 70.3 per cent.
This marked an increase from 16,730 at 69.9 per cent in the previous quarter and a massive improvement on the December 2018 quarter when the clearance rate was 43.6 per cent, according to the Corelogic quarterly auction update.
Melbourne recorded the majority of auctions with 12,870 at an average clearance of 72.8 per cent. The best performing suburb was Balaclava with a 100 per cent clearance rate from 22 actions while Reservoir recorded 221 auctions in total.
Sydney had 9,546 auctions at 74.9 per cent with perfect clearance rates from three suburbs—Camperdown 26, Kingsford 27 and Panania 22—and the highest number of auctions was at Mosman reaching 141.
Brisbane had 1,615 auctions clearing at 45 per cent with the best performing suburb at Paddington 66.7 per cent from 21 auctions and Sunnybank Hills had the most auctions at 35.
December quarter auction results
| City | Most Auctions | Total Auctions | Average Clearance Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | Reservoir (221) | 12,870 | 72.8% |
| Sydney | Mosman (141) | 9,546 | 74.9% |
| Brisbane | Sunnybank Hills (35) | 1,615 | 45.0% |
| Adelaide | Prospect (28) | 1,385 | 57.4% |
| Canberra | Kambah (35) | 937 | 68.0% |
| Perth | Dianella (21) | 517 | 39.5% |
| Tasmania | N/A | 53 | 62.2% |
| Combined | 26,923 | 70.3% |
Corelogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said these results reflected the quarterly house price jump.
“As prices in Sydney and Melbourne rose 6.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively in the December quarter, a corresponding increase in auction market activity is expected,” she said.
“Vendors have been responsive to higher prices, with auction volumes up by 4.0 per cent year on year.”
Auction volumes increased across all 15 Sydney sub-regions over the December quarter with North Sydney and Hornsby hosting the most auctions at 1,450 and 12 of those regions recorded a clearance rate above 65.0 per cent.
The highest was at the inner west (80.8 per cent), followed by City and inner south (80.4 per cent) while the outer west and Blue Mountains region returned the lowest clearance rate (41.4 per cent).
Eight of the nine Melbourne sub-regions held more than 1000 auctions each, the highest recorded in the Inner region 2,223, followed by Inner South 1,946.
The highest clearance rate went to the inner east 76.4 per cent down from 78.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
