Australian Auction Clearance Rates Strong but Stock Levels Rising

Questions about the veracity of the numbers aside, here is the first week of March in chart form.

Australian House Auction Clearance Rates for Mar 6, 2011

Auctions strong in Sydney but high stock levels tipped to keep prices down
(Note that this article is about the following week's activity.)

"When you make an adjustment for the unreported figures, you still get a good result at about 56-58%, so it was a reasonably strong weekend."

"In terms of the last few weekends, they've ranged from the low 60s down to the low 50s. So this is conducive of a market that's not falling by any means, but it's not really taking off either."

SQM's figures show national stock levels have risen 46.1% since February 2010, and are now at a two-year high. While Melbourne recorded the highest stock levels at 37,911, followed by Brisbane at 28,937, Sydney actually recorded the highest month-on-month growth at 15.6%.