The last week of June saw only 1,669 homes taken to auction, down from the 1,849 auctions held across the combined capital during the week of June 18-24, according to CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator Summary.

The lower week-on-week volumes did result in a slightly higher preliminary clearance rate of 56.7%, contributing to a year-to-date average of 60.5% for the first six months of 2018. This is significantly lower compared to the first half of last year, which saw an average of 72.5% of listed homes sold.

With 795 homes taken to auction this week, Melbourne kept its title as top city auctioneer. It returned a preliminary auction clearance rate of 60.3% —  improving from last week’s final clearance rate of 59.9% when a higher 941 auctions were held.

Sydney, meanwhile, stayed in the second auction spot with 56.4% clearance rate. Its total number of auctions was 631.

The most expensive property sold last week was a three-bed, two-bath, and two-car unit in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW) which sold for $4.3 million. The second-highest sale was also in NSW: a four-bed, four-bath, and two-car unit in Balmain that went for more than $4.2 million.

Displacing Darwin, Perth held the highest median “time on market” length among houses at 86 days this week. Darwin came next (73 days), followed by Brisbane (62 days).

“The 2018 auction market so far has demonstrated the weakening property market, with the success rate of auctions continuing to fall through the first half of the year; returning the lowest weekly clearance rates seen since 2012 as property values decline in turn,” CoreLogic noted.

Related stories:
Exclusive: June Quarter Auction Report
Rising Clearance Rates Seen Across Australia

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