Australia’s top weekend auction sale was on the waterfront at Birchgrove on Sydney Harbour. 

The grand 1900s residence, Clevedon, fetched $7.225 million when the four-bedroom Wharf Road offering, with art nouveau finishes, was auctioned through Belle Property.

There were four registered bidders.

It sits on a 692 square metre parcel taking in views including Balls Head and the Harbour Bridge. There was a self-contained boatshed along with a mooring for a 30-foot vessel, with an application lodged to increase permission to 50-foot.

It last sold in 1997 at $2.025 million.

The Birchgrove home takes in views of Balls Head and the Harbour Bridge. Photo: Belle Property

There was a self-contained boatshed along with a mooring for a 30ft vessel, with an application lodged to increase permission to 50ft. Photo: Belle Property

Melbourne’s Malvern was next priciest after $6.6 million was paid for 6 Moorakyne Avenue at its Jellis Craig auction. It was an English-style family residence, renovated by Nicholas Day over a decade ago. It had last sold at $3.6 million in 2006.

The nation’s cheapest result was when $187,500 secured a three-bedroom townhouse at Mount Warren Park, near Brisbane’s Logan. It was a mortgagee offering which had last sold at $251,000 in 2009.

CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan noted that Geelong, Victoria’s second-largest city, posted the strongest clearance rate for any market, of 83 per cent.

Geelong’s sales included a two-bedroom apartment at $1.17 million overlooking Eastern Beach.

Capital city auction volumes remained high with 3353 homes taken to auction over the week.

There was an overall preliminary clearance rate of 63.1 per cent, but it’s likely to be lower after final results.

The final clearance rate for the prior week was 60.3 per cent across the capitals, the lowest this year, and the lowest reading since late 2015.

Melbourne’s clearance rates have been tracking below 70 per cent for five consecutive weeks, as volumes across the city have been consistently higher.

The weekend volumes in Melbourne reached their second-highest level this year at 1837 offerings.

Melbourne’s weekend results included the history-making yachtsman Jesse Martin whose Dandenong Ranges family home sold post-auction.

Martin, who became the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo in 1999, expected $1.2 million to $1.32 million for the Emerald home.

Melbourne’s Malvern had the country’s second-priciest auction sale, after $6.6 million was paid for 6 Moorakyne Avenue. Photo: Jellis Craig

The five-bedroom home was last sold in 2006 for $3.6 million. Photo: Jellis Craig

The English-style family residence was renovated by Nicholas Day over a decade ago. Photo: Jellis Craig

But the modern main residence, which incorporates the site’s original two-bedroom 1800s cottage on the 4024 square metre property, fetched $1.15 million, according to the Herald Sun. 

One year ago there were 1685 Melbourne auctions held, with a notably higher clearance rate (78.4 per cent).  

Sydney’s clearance rates, which have tracked around the mid-high 50 per cent range over seven consecutive weeks, came in at 58.7 per cent across a total of 990 auctions held, increasing on last week’s final clearance rate of 56.2 per cent when 1143 auctions were held.

Over the same week last year, 1163 auctions were held across Sydney and a clearance rate of 73.7 per cent was recorded. 

Across the smaller markets, Canberra recorded the highest preliminary clearance rate this week, while Brisbane returned the lowest again.

In the nation’s capital, 106 auctions were held this week, and of the 84 reported results, 66.7 per cent were successful. Last week, only 102 auctions were held and the clearance rate was a higher 71.6 per cent. This time last year, results were similar with 118 auctions held and a clearance rate of 60.8 per cent.

Canberra prices ranged up to $1.6 million at Campbell.

Brisbane sales included a $3.355 million newly built Queenslander in Ascot. The block had sold at $1.3 million in 2014 before its construction.

The now demolished cottage featured in the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie San Andreas, the Courier Mail reported.

There were 183 Brisbane homes taken to auction, with 131 results reported so far. The preliminary clearance rate is 46.6 per cent, up from 42.8 per cent last week and higher than one year ago, when 43.5 per cent of the 206 properties taken to auction were successful.

A total of 163 Adelaide homes were taken to auction, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 65 per cent across 120 results, up from 59.1 per cent last week when 144 auctions were held across the city. 

Adelaide’s cheapest price was $349,000 at Highbury, with views back to the city. It had traded at $300,000 in 2007.

It was marketed as an opportunity to renovate the split level home or develop the 614 square metre land.

Perth’s clearance rate of 46.7 per cent across 62 auctions was up from the previous weekend, when 50 auctions were held and a clearance rate of 32.6 per cent was recorded. Over the same weekend last December, the clearance rate was 20 per cent from 76 auctions.

Jonathan Chancellor is editor at large at Property Observer.