Melbourne's upcoming bonanza auction weekend: new record looms

Melbourne’s strong spring market is on track to challenge an all-time auction record this weekend when 1,683 homes go to auction.

REIV chief executive officer, Enzo Raimondo, said the majority of the auctions – a mammoth 1,550 - are scheduled to take place this Saturday.

The auction bonanza is expected to go close to, and possibly exceed, the all-time auction record for a Melbourne weekend. The record was set on the corresponding pre-Melbourne Cup weekend last year (October 25-26, 2014) when 1,682 auctions were held.

While it will go close to the all-time weekend auction record, it is expected to fall just short of the Saturday record - on October 25 last year - when just over 1,600 auctions were held.

“The high auction levels reflect the strength of the local market and continuing buyer demand for homes across the city,” Mr Raimondo said. “This level of auction activity cements the city’s reputation as Australia’s auction capital.” 

Mr Raimondo said that the strong spring season began in mid-August this year, several weeks earlier than last year, and has remained high since then.

Scheduled auctions for Melbourne Cup weekend are the highest on record, up more than 100 over the same period last year.

The following weekend of November 7- 8 is also gearing up to be a Super Saturday.

Mr Raimondo said these solid auction numbers follow last weekend’s strong results which saw 1080 auctions held and a clearance rate of 74 per cent.

“This is 206 more auctions than the same time last year,” Mr Raimondo said. “High clearance rates indicate buyer interest is still strong despite more supply coming onto the market.”

Auctions are also gaining in popularity in areas that are traditionally the domain of private sale. In Melbourne’s outer suburbs, auction numbers are up 19 per cent on the same period last year while auction sales are up 37 per cent.

“Melbourne has some of the highest auction numbers not only in Australia, but worldwide. In the current buoyant housing market, buyer demand is encouraging more vendors to sell their home under the hammer,” Mr Raimondo said.