Auction clearance rates slump to lows not seen since mid June as property slide continues | ABC News

By ABC News (Australia)

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Australia's auction clearance rate has slumped to a three-month low, despite spring being a historically good time to buy and sell property, according to the latet data from property analytics firm Cotality. Less than half the auctions that occurred across the country last week resulted in a successful sale, earning a preliminary clearance rate of 48.2 per cent, the lowest since late June (47.4 per cent) and the second-lowest preliminary reading for the year so far. The sombre statistic can be attributed to two weekends in a row of long weekends in some part of the country, while the RBA's recent interest rate hike, economists' predictions of more on the horizon, and changes in this year's federal budget finally trickling through into policy, has spooked the housing market. Another real estate analysis firm, SQM Research, has warned the number of unsold homes has surged by more than 20 per cent in the past year as more and more homes clog the market. There were 4,872 distressed sales

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