Sydney buyers spring into action as weekend clearance rate hits 82.4%

Spring has well and truly sprung in the Sydney auction market, with buyers snapping up 82.4% of the 711 properties on offer across the city at the weekend, according to RP Data.

Australia’s average clearance rate jumped to 74.4% this week from 1910 auctions, up from last week’s strong national clearance of 72.2%.

Sydney’s clearance was up from 79.9% last week, with RP Data Victorian housing market specialist Robert Larocca telling SmartCompany the impressive rate shows demand is clearly outstripping supply in the city.

“When we see a clearance rate in the 80s, it certainly looks like a boom is going on,” says Larocca.

“There is clearly a very strong market in Sydney at the moment and lots of vendors who have listed their home in spring will be smiling.”

Meanwhile in Melbourne, Australia’s largest auction market hit a 75.1% clearance off the back of 884 properties going under the hammer, compared to 73.5% recorded last week.

“We’ve had four consecutive weeks of clearance rates over 70% in Melbourne and really that’s the definition of a healthy market,” says Larocca.

Adelaide also recorded a strong clearance rate of 70.2% off 84 auctions, compared to 64.9% last week, while only 49.4% of the 126 properties auctioned in Brisbane managed to sell, although that was up from last week’s clearance of 46.8%.

Larcocca says this weekend is set to be another big one in terms of auction volumes, with Sydney taking 684 properties to the auction block, while Melbourne will have over 1000.

He expects Melbourne to have a few more big weekends before the property market takes a back seat to the AFL grand final on September 28.

“We most certainly will have some more ‘Super Saturdays’,” says Larocca, referring to the Saturdays that see auction volumes rise to around 1200 in some cities.

“We’ve already had a few this year and we will definitely get a few more.”