Melbourne and Sydney drive the pullback, with activity expected to rebound next week
Auction schedules across the capital cities are expected to thin out over the week ending 26 April as the ANZAC Day holiday period reduces the number of homes going under the hammer.
Data from Cotality shows 793 capital city dwellings are currently slated for auction this week, down 68.9% from the 2,551 auctions held last week. The tally is also 26.3% lower than the 1,076 auctions recorded in the comparable week last year.
The softer calendar is typical for ANZAC Day week, particularly when the public holiday coincides with a Saturday, which is usually the peak day for auctions in most markets.
The decline is most pronounced in the two largest auction centres. Melbourne is expected to host 243 auctions this week, compared with 1,231 last week and 464 a year earlier. Sydney has 288 properties scheduled, down from 925 the week before and 399 in the same week of 2025. Together, Melbourne and Sydney account for most of the reduction in combined capital city volumes, with Melbourne contributing more than half of the week-on-week fall.
Elsewhere, the picture is mixed. Brisbane has 87 auctions pencilled in, compared with 199 last week and 97 a year ago. Canberra is expected to record 30 auctions, matching the same week last year but below last week’s 68. Perth has six auctions scheduled, slightly above the five recorded a year earlier.
Adelaide is the outlier on volume. It is expected to hold 139 auctions this week, up from 117 last week and well above the 81 recorded in the same week last year.
Cotality expects activity to lift again next week, with 2,653 capital city homes currently scheduled for auction.
| Capital city auction statistics (Final) – w/e 19 April 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Clearance rate | Total auctions | Cotality auction results | |
| Cleared auctions | Uncleared auctions | |||
| Sydney | 51.6% | 925 | 477 | 448 |
| Melbourne | 55.7% | 1,231 | 686 | 545 |
| Brisbane | 56.3% | 199 | 112 | 87 |
| Adelaide | 65.0% | 117 | 76 | 41 |
| Perth | 81.8% | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Tasmania | n.a. | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canberra | 50.0% | 68 | 34 | 34 |
| Combined capitals | 54.6% | 2,551 | 1,394 | 1,157 |
| Source: Cotality | ||||
Last week’s results showed a sharp rise in auction activity. Across the combined capitals, 2,551 homes were taken to auction over the week ending 19 April, up from 1,877 the prior week and well above the 644 recorded in the corresponding week last year, when Easter fell in that period. Melbourne led with 1,231 auctions (up from 875), while Sydney rose to 925 (from 684). Brisbane increased to 199 (from 117), and Canberra edged up to 68 (from 62). Adelaide and Perth dipped, and Tasmania recorded no auctions.
The combined capital city weighted average clearance rate was 54.6%, up from 52.7% the week before. Melbourne improved to 55.7% (from 52.3%), and Sydney rose to 51.6% (from 48.8%). Perth posted the highest clearance rate at 81.8%, although this was based on 11 auctions. Adelaide eased to 65.0% (from 66.4%), Brisbane slipped to 56.3% (from 58.1%), and Canberra recorded the steepest weekly decline to 50.0% (from 62.9%).
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