Melbourne likely to take strongest auction mantle as Sydney's 80% at year low

Sydney's July 11 weekend auction clearance rate was down to a year low of 80%. It represented the biggest of recent gentle declines amid five of six recent weekends of falling clearance rates.  

Sydney previously recorded an initial clearance rate of 83.3% (revised to 80.6%) and 72.7% recorded over same weekend last year.

The near 600 offerings was a record July volume.

The most popular suburb for auctions in Sydney was Maroubra with 11 followed by Blacktown with eight. There were seven auctions scheduled for Marrickville, Baulkham Hills, Wahroonga, Liverpool and Chester Hill.

Sydney’s south hosted the most number of auctions with 94 scheduled followed by the west with 76, the inner west and the city and east each with 71, the upper north shore 67, the south west 60, Canterbury Bankstown 47, the lower north 38, the northern beaches 33, the north west 31, and the central coast 17.

While Sydney auction clearance rate down to year low 80%, Dr Andrew Wilson at APM noted was Melbourne solid at 79.2%.

With less volume, some 560 auctions in Melbourne on Saturday, Melbourne's preliminary clearance rate of 79.2 per cent on Saturday, higher than the 78.7 per cent of the week before. The Melbourne numbers were just below the 548 auctioned last weekend, but ahead of the 478 auctioned over the same weekend last year.  Reservoir hosted the most number of auctions in Melbourne on Saturday with 14 followed by Richmond 13, Port Melbourne, Glen Waverley and St Kilda each with nine. 

The last weekend of July sees more than 700 homes scheduled for auction in Sydney.

Sydney will struggle with these high numbers to maintain the high clearance rates achieved earlier in the year, Dr Wilson forecasts.

"The preliminary clearance rate for the city was 80 per cent, which, while high in most markets, was the lowest rate of 2015 for a weekend not affected by holidays," he said.

"The reduced clearance rate is another early sign, along with the the surprise drop in home loans recorded in May, which point to a market that is passing the peak of house price inflation," he told Fairfax Media.

Sydney's top sale was $4.45 million for a 1319 square metre Chiswick property, with perched views over Five Dock Bay where its original cottage - three bedrooms plus sunroom - will be replaced with a new home. 

Lochlan Grahame of Cobden & Hayson had nine registered bidders.

A four-bedroom apartment atop the Portofino building in Bay Road, Sandringham sold for $3.3 million through Biggin & Scott Brighton, as Melbourne's highest weekend sale.

Brisbane's top $1.7 million sale at Cleveland was an offering on its second auction marketing campaign. It had $1,890,000 plus private treaty hopes since last November's unsuccessful auction.

In Canberra the top sale was a 1975 built family home on a 1417-square-metre block in Beaumont Close, Chapman, 12 kilometres from the city, sold for $1.01 million through Deborah Blaine at Peter Blackshaw Woden and Weston Creek. It had been listed with $875,000 plus hopes.