June auctions reflect early winter buyer hibernation

The strength of most capital city auction markets tracked marginally down over June 2015, according to the Domain Australian Home Auction Report for June 2015.

The report, compiled by property website Domain.com.au with analysis from Domain senior economist, Dr Andrew Wilson noted it had been a mixed month for the auction market overall.

"We are definitely starting to see the first signs of the typical winter cooling period as sellers are starting to think about the Spring property season.

"That said, markets are still well ahead year-on-year and we are starting to see the underlying strength across the board,” Wilson said. 

Sydney

Sydney’s June clearance rate, while still strong at 82.9%, dropped slightly from 83.3% in May. This is still well ahead of the 70% clearance rate recorded in June 2014. 

Domain’s Dr Andrew Wilson said that the declining weekend auction trend in Sydney in June, can can be attributed in part to the usual mid-year seasonal effects. 

“Unrealistic expectations by vendors of market prices in the extraordinary Sydney market may be a factor in declining clearance rates. Unseasonably high auction numbers are set to continue into July, providing buyers with a wider choice of property, however.” 

• Average number of Saturday auctions in Sydney in June was 599, down from 706 average in May, but well ahead of 528 averaged in June last year
• Slight weakening in the clearance rate translated into a fall of 2.9% in the median auction price for homes sold under the hammer over June
• June median auction price of $1,105,000 was down from the all-time record of $1,137,500 recorded in May 
• June median house price, although a slight decrease from May, was still an increase of 22.8% on the $900,000 median home auction price recorded in June 2014

Melbourne

Unlike the Sydney auction market, clearance rates for the Melbourne market increased over June compared to the previous month. Melbourne reported a clearance rate of 79.2% for June, just ahead of the 78% recorded over May and up more than 10% (68.8) from June last year. 

Melbourne’s June clearance rate was the highest recorded for any month since April 2010 and the highest June result since 2007.

According to Domain’s Dr Andrew Wilson, similar to Sydney, Melbourne clearance rates trended downwards over June as the mid-winter moderating effect took hold. 

“The data was indicative of the slow down into July, when listing numbers are expected to in line with what is typically the trough of the market for monthly auction activity each year with the exception of January”.

• Melbourne averaged 685 auction listings for each Saturday over June and although well down on the 928 averaged in May, remained ahead of the 634 reported over June last year 
• The Melbourne median price of homes auctioned over June fell by 4.9% over the month from $820,000 in May to $780,000. This however remained 10.6% higher than the $705,000 median recorded in June 2014

Brisbane

The Brisbane auction market also experienced a slight increase in clearance rates in June. The clearance rate of 50% was just ahead of the 48.6% recorded in May, but significantly higher than in June 2014 (36.4). 

• Brisbane averaged 92 auctions per Saturday over June, down from the 118 average over May but well ahead of the 79 averaged over June last year
• Domain reported a median Brisbane home price sold at auction of $685,000 over June, an increase of 0.5% over May’s $681,500 and 5.2% higher than the $651,000 recorded over June last year
• The Brisbane June clearance rate was its highest recorded for June since 2003

Canberra

Canberra recorded another solid auction clearance rate in June at 63.2%. Although down marginally from the 64.2% recorded in May, it was nonetheless well ahead of the 55.4% recorded last June. 

• Canberra averaged 35 listings per Saturday in June, down from the 48 averaged over May but well ahead of the 23 averaged over June 2014
• Domain reported the Canberra median home auction price recorded in June was $650,000, a fall of 2.6% over the May result of $667,500 but an increase of 2.4 percent over the same month last year
• Canberra’s June clearance rate was the highest recorded by that city for that month since 2009

Adelaide

Domain reported that the Adelaide auction market fell away over June to a clearance rate of 61.2%, down from the 64.6% recorded over May. While there has been a significant drop month-on-month, the results are still ahead of the 57.5% result for June 2014. 

• The Domain data shows that Adelaide averaged 53 auction listings per Saturday over June, down from the 67 average over May, ahead of the 49 averaged over June a year ago
• The median auction price for a home in Adelaide over June was $560,000, a fall of 1.1% over the May result of $566,500 but 6.2% higher than the $527,500 recorded over June last year