Melbourne and Sydney lead as auction volumes surge across major cities
Auction activity across Australia’s capital cities reached its highest point since early June, with 2,675 homes going under the hammer last week.
This represented an 11.4% increase on the previous week’s 2,402 auctions, according to preliminary figures.
The early clearance rate for the capitals climbed to 77.9%, the highest since October 2021, when the rate stood at 78.9%.
Melbourne led the nation with 1,322 auctions, surpassing the previous week’s 1,240 and marking its busiest period since June. The city’s preliminary clearance rate reached 78.6%, its strongest result since late October 2021.
Sydney saw 925 properties auctioned, a rise of 11.6% from the prior week. The city’s preliminary clearance rate rebounded by 3.2 percentage points to 77.9%, the fourth highest early success rate recorded in 2024.
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane held 174 auctions, its fifth highest weekly total this year. Of the 125 results collected, 65.6% were successful, down from 74% previously. Adelaide recorded 135 auctions, a 37.8% week-on-week increase, with an 85.5% preliminary clearance rate—its second highest for the year.
Canberra experienced its busiest week since mid-April, with 105 homes auctioned. This was only the third occasion this year that the city exceeded 100 auctions in a week. In Perth, 11 homes went to auction, with five sales reported so far. Tasmania saw three auctions, all resulting in sales.
“Auction activity is set to drop back to around 1,875 this week, with Melbourne scheduled auction numbers set to ease to just under 200 amid the AFL grand final,” said Kaytlin Ezzy (pictured above), economist at Cotality.
“Across Sydney, however, around 1,300 auctions are scheduled, marking what is likely to be the city’s highest weekly volume since the week prior to Easter earlier this year.”
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