Sydney to lead rise in auction numbers as smaller capitals cool
Auction activity across the combined capital cities is expected to hold steady this week, according to data and analytics provider Cotality, with 1,605 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, compared with 1,603 auctions last week.
Sydney and Perth are the only capitals set to record an increase in volumes, while forward schedules indicate listings are likely to build over the coming weeks, with just over 2,000 homes currently set for auction next week.
In Sydney, 662 homes are due to be auctioned this week, a 44.2% rise on last week’s 459 and 6.6% higher than the 621 auctioned in the same week last year.
Melbourne’s auction market is easing after last week’s reopening, with 588 homes scheduled for sale under the hammer, a fall of 6.1% from 626 a week earlier. At the same point last year, 675 Melbourne properties went to auction.
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane is expected to be the busiest, with 130 auctions planned, although this represents a sharp decline of 40.9% from 220 last week. Adelaide has 117 auctions scheduled, down from 155, while Canberra’s tally has fallen to 94 from 134. Perth is set to host 13 auctions, up from eight last week, and Tasmania has a single auction listed for the second consecutive week.
Source: Cotality
Last week, 1,603 homes were taken to auction across the combined capitals as volumes began to normalise after the holiday period. Over the previous four weeks, only 483 auctions in total had been held. In the comparable week last year, 1,390 capital-city properties went under the hammer.
The combined capital-city clearance rate strengthened to 66.4% last week, up from 57.1% in mid-December and ahead of the 59.4% success rate recorded in the same week a year earlier.
Melbourne hosted 626 auctions last week, a sharp jump from just 187 across the preceding four weeks. The city’s clearance rate rose to 63.7%, compared with 58.4% in mid-December. It was Melbourne’s highest clearance result since early November, when 65.9% of auctions were successful. In the equivalent week last year, 483 homes went to auction in Melbourne and 58.6% sold.
In Sydney, 459 homes were offered at auction last week, up from a total of 68 across the previous four weeks and slightly above the 453 auctions held in the same week last year. Sydney’s clearance rate reached 62.3%, up from 52.6% in mid-December and higher than the 59.6% result recorded one year earlier. As in Melbourne, it was the city’s strongest clearance rate since the week ending 9 November 2025, when 64.5% of auctions cleared.
Conditions were firmer across most of the smaller auction markets as well. Adelaide’s clearance rate rose to 83.9%, its highest result since the week ending 2 June 2024, when it reached 84.9%. Canberra recorded a clearance rate of 64.9%, the best outcome since early October last year, while Brisbane’s clearance rate climbed to 71.8%, its strongest result since early September. In Perth, four of the eight reported auctions were successful, and the single auction scheduled in Tasmania was withdrawn.
Brisbane was the most active of the smaller capitals last week, with 220 homes taken to auction, up from 162 in the same week a year earlier. Adelaide hosted 155 auctions, compared with 150 one year ago, while 134 homes were auctioned in Canberra, slightly above the 131 recorded in the corresponding week last year.
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