Clearance rates bounce back as listings dip following holiday surge
Auction volumes have dipped across Australia’s capital cities this week, with 1,878 homes scheduled to go under the hammer — down from 2,183 the previous week and 2,150 at the same time last year, according to new data from property research firm Cotality.
Melbourne leads the capitals with 858 scheduled auctions, though this marks a drop from both last week (1,018) and the same period in 2024 (975). Sydney follows with 730 planned auctions, also below the previous week’s 829 and 844 one year ago.
“The decline in activity this week follows a sharp increase in volumes last week as the market recovered from the King’s Birthday long weekend,” said Caitlin Fono, research analyst at Cotality.
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane is the only market set to see a lift, with 148 homes expected to go to auction, compared to 127 last week. Other cities are set for lighter activity: Adelaide (87), Canberra (50), and Perth (4) are all down from 121, 77 and 11 respectively. Tasmania will see one auction this week after a two-week pause.
Looking ahead, activity may edge higher, with 1,960 auctions already pencilled in for next week across the combined capitals.
Last week saw 2,183 capital city homes taken to auction — significantly up from 1,373 the week before, which was affected by the public holiday. The clearance rate also rose, hitting 65.2%, the second-highest result of the year so far. This was a rebound from the prior week’s 60.7%, which had marked the lowest since Easter.
In Melbourne, 1,018 properties went to auction last week, up from 475 during the long weekend lull but slightly below the 1,083 recorded this time last year. Clearance in the city ticked down slightly to 65.4%, from 65.9% the previous week.
Sydney hosted 829 auctions last week, an increase from 625 the week prior and slightly above the 812 seen a year ago. The city’s clearance rate came in at 65.6%, rebounding from 58.1% — its weakest performance this year outside of January.
Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane recorded 127 auctions, followed by Adelaide (121), Canberra (77), and Perth (11). Adelaide led on clearance rate with 71.1%, its strongest since late September 2024. Canberra achieved a clearance of 63.6%, the highest since early March. Brisbane and Perth followed with clearance rates of 57.5% and 45.5% respectively. Tasmania recorded no auctions.
“Clearance rates improved last week in nearly every capital city market, reflecting renewed buyer confidence after the previous week’s holiday disruption,” Fono said.
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