The Australian sums up the art auctions: the results are as good as could be hoped for. Numbers are down across the board but that’s hardly the thing to focus on because nothing could match the numbers of the 2007 top. Instead, everyone’s focusing on the sell-through rates

Sydney dealer Denis Savill, who sold two paintings through Sotheby’s and spent $1 million buying a dozen pieces, said buyers were looking for quality.

“Buyers are young bucks with money, dealers aren’t getting much of a look-in,” he said. The percentage of works sold at auction is reminiscent of the bull market that turned bearish last year, but cash figures are considerably lower than in 2007. […]

On Tuesday night, Bonhams & Goodman auctioned 95 artworks for $2.6m – an 86 per cent clearance rate.

Sotheby’s achieved a clearance rate of 77 per cent for its Monday auction of important Australian art and 94 per cent for its sale of the Austcorp Group’s 68-piece collection of contemporary art on Tuesday. […]

At the 147-lot Deutscher and Hackett sale last night New Zealand artist Colin McCahon’s Let Be, Let Be, 1959, sold for $785,000 – a record for the artist.

Art Auction Market Painting a Prettier Picture (The Australian)