Both Sydney and Melbourne auction markets exhibited increased clearance rates — up from 69.5% to 70% nearing the end of May. There were 1,863 auctions held last week, maintaining the high level of activity across the cities. But in both Sydney and Melbourne at this time last year, there had been six weeks of producing at least 2,200 auctions each week — a feat that has yet to be surpassed this year.

1. The Current State of
Melbourne Auctions
Pickles Auctions
http://www.pickles.com.au

2. Both Sydney and Melbourne auction markets exhibited increased clearance rates—up
from 69.5% to 70% nearing the end of May. There were 1,863 auctions held last week,
maintaining the high level of activity across the cities. But in both Sydney and Melbourne
at this time last year, there had been six weeks of producing at least 2,200 auctions each
week—a feat that has yet to be surpassed this year.
Melbourne Auctions
There were 825 auctions held in Melbourne a week ago, down from the previous week’s
871, and 300 less than last year. Preliminary results show that there had been a 70%
clearance rate last week, also a weakened performance from 71.3% two weeks ago. Last
year, there had been an 82.1% clearance rate. Should this be a call for alarm? Not really.
Melbourne has been maintaining a steady clearance rate of over 70%.
The lot of auction activities the past week had occurred in the capital’s inner sub-region,
totalling 172 events with a 72.2% clearance rate. The slew of auctions in the inner sub-
region does not fully qualify the strength of clearance rate, however, as the strongest
clearance rate—80% across 50 out of 57 auctions—was in the outer east region of the
capital.

3. Comparing the State of Melbourne Auctions to other Cities
Sydney yielded a preliminary clearance rate of 74.2% a week ago, also a decline from
the 76.2% it had two weeks ago. The latest score places Sydney at the top of the best
performing capital city market for the second week in a row. Similar to Melbourne,
Sydney is also underperforming when compared to last year’s auction activity.
Brisbane, on the other hand, had 128 auctions held the past week, falling from 151 two
weeks ago and 159 a year ago. Preliminary results project a clearance rate of 55.3% for
last week’s auctions, a bump from 49.3% from two weeks ago and higher than last year’s
46.2%.
Comparing Melbourne to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, which had 47 auctions this week
at a 42.9% clearance rate, the former still maintains its strong and steady numbers in
the auction markets.

4. RESOURCES:
 http://www.pickles.com.au/about/branch-location/melbourne
 http://blog.corelogic.com.au/2016/05/strong-clearance-rates-sydney-melbourne-
auction-markets-push-capital-city-average-clearance-rate-70/
 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/realestate/news/melbourne-vic/melbourne-auction-
market-steady-before-anticipated-winter-cooloff/news-
story/61266f0fa0a879864291ffe86f4189b1