Australian property clearance rates hit two-year high

There’s been plenty of reason for optimism over Australia’s improving housing market, and figures are showing are now showing a spike in buyer confidence.

Recently the nation’s reserve bank stated the market was returning to growth sooner than expected, and this is being represented by this week’s increase in housing auctions.

Across Australia’s capital cities, these have reached their highest clearance rates in almost two years — up 13 per cent from the previous week.

Housing auctions were up from 1,228 homes in the previous week, with a returning final clearance rate of 73.0 per cent, CoreLogic data shows.

In comparison to the same week last year, auction activity was higher with 1,915 homes taken to auction, returning a lower clearance rate of 54.6 per cent.

Sydney saw its highest clearance rates since February 2017, also reaching 3 per cent higher than last week. The city saw 84.7 per cent of properties cleared across 500 auctions.

“Volumes are still relatively low, about 200 fewer than last year, but the buyers are confident,” CoreLogic auction market commentator, Kevin Brogan, told AAP.

“Melbourne has also seen significant growth, but we’ve seen the market build on Sydney’s confidence. Overall we've seen some really strong results.”

The last time Australia witnessed a climb in clearance rates this high was between 2012 and 2013.

"We're seeing people return to the market as buyers and sellers. This is going to be providing confidence to people wanting to sell their properties in the market,” he added.  

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