Super Saturday: Canberra buyers gear up for another bumper weekend of auctions

Canberra’s property market is in for another bumper weekend of auctions with 111 properties scheduled to go under the hammer on Saturday as buyers gear up to pounce on homes before the end of the year.

The “Super Saturday” comes after the capital hosted 108 auctions last weekend – the highest number of auctions in a single day since October 2017. 

Despite the increase in homes hitting the market, which has given buyers more choice, the city’s clearance rate has remained above the strong 80 per cent mark.

Last Saturday, Canberra recorded a revised auction clearance rate of 87 per cent. There were 97 results reported and, of that, 84 homes sold, six were withdrawn and seven passed in.

“The 87 per cent clearance rate is a phenomenal outcome and goes to show that these are the listings that buyers have been crying out for,” said Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell.

“If last week’s results are anything to go by, I anticipate that this weekend will be another strong one.”

Steve Lowe of Agent Team Canberra, who will be taking 30 McGinness Street, Scullin, under the hammer on Saturday, anticipates a number of “bumper weekends of auctions to get through the volume of buyers”.

“With the increase in new listings, we’ve seen the number of registered bidders at auctions decrease and the number of open home attendees also drop dramatically,” he said.

“But in saying that, previously we’d have more than 10 registered bidders at auction but only two or three really participating, so despite the lower number of registered parties, the competitive nature of auctions remains … there’s still room for more properties to come to market.”

Blackshaw Real Estate managing director Andrew Chamberlain, who will also be calling a few auctions on Saturday, is looking forward to the busy weekend.

“I love the prospect of a Saturday full of auctions … it’s exciting as an agent who genuinely enjoys auctions and believes that it’s the best method to buy and sell a home. Frankly, as an agent, it’s definitely the most fun way of selling a home,” he said.

“I think having back-to-back Super Saturdays is a reflection of the delayed activity in September and the volume of buyers out there right now.”

As the capital makes its way out of the spring season and inches towards the end of the year, it’s common to have a high number of properties go under the hammer.

“This is the time of the year where we have the most auctions,” Mr Chamberlain said. “It’s almost too late now to sell so we’re preparing homes to hit the market after that Christmas holiday period.”

Dr Powell noted that the high volume of auctions and even greater depth of buyers would place Canberra in a strong position in the new year.

“Activity in the property market will start to peter out as we head to the end of the year but clearly, there’ll be a number of buyers who missed out so that momentum will build into a fairly active late summer and early autumn selling season,” she said.