Fewer homes are heading to auction, yet those that do are clearing more often as vendors reset expectations.
Property analytics group Cotality has revealed that auction activity across the combined capitals stepped down again last week, even as the share of properties selling at, or shortly after, auction improved to its best level in nearly two months.
There were 1,318 auctions held nationally across the capital cities, down 8.7 per cent on the previous week and around 8 per cent lower than in the same week a year earlier.
That smaller pool of stock contrasted with a preliminary clearance rate of 54.8 per cent, up from 49.8 per cent and back above the 50 per cent line for the first time in three weeks.
The turnaround comes after a particularly weak weekend in late June, when about 1,900 homes went to auction, and only 47.4 per cent changed hands – the softest reading since April 2020.
According to Cotality, the recent lift in the preliminary rate reflects a mix of tighter listing numbers and a shift in seller behaviour.
It said that with fewer properties competing for each active buyer and more vendors prepared to adjust reserves to meet the current market, more auctions were now ending in a sale.
The firm said that higher interest rates had cut borrowing capacity, while economic uncertainty and new tax settings for investors had added additional layers of hesitation.
Melbourne steady, Sydney rebounds on lighter flow
Melbourne remained the busiest auction market, with 585 homes taken to auction.
That was effectively flat week on week – a rise of just 0.3 per cent – but 6.8 per cent below the same week last year.
The city’s preliminary clearance rate edged higher to 56.2 per cent, from 54.5 per cent two weeks earlier, marking its strongest early result in about a month.
Sydney delivered the largest improvement in selling success.
Its preliminary clearance rate climbed to 57.5 per cent, the highest in 10 weeks and a notable recovery from the 47.3 per cent low recorded three weeks ago.
However, the rebound came against a sharp reduction in activity: only 452 auctions were held, with volumes down 18.7 per cent compared with both the prior week and the same week in 2025.
Mixed picture in smaller capitals
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane saw the biggest shift in both volume and performance.
The city hosted 128 auctions, up 7.6 per cent on the previous week and 25.5 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Its preliminary clearance rate jumped to 43 per cent, from just 23.8 per cent a week earlier.
Adelaide’s results followed a similar pattern: the preliminary clearance rate increased to 59.1 per cent, from 45.7 per cent, but the number of auctions fell 25.9 per cent to 83 per cent.
Canberra recorded 60 auctions – 4.8 per cent fewer than the prior week and roughly in line with a year earlier – with a preliminary clearance rate of 44.9 per cent.
Activity remained thin in Perth and Hobart, with eight and two auctions, respectively.
Cotality head of research Gerard Burg said the drop in auction volumes compared with mid‑2025 underscored how much the landscape had shifted.
“This time last year, we were in the process of seeing rate cuts from the Reserve Bank. There was a lot more optimism about the direction of rates,” he said.
Burg said the combination of three cash rate rises so far this year and lingering uncertainty had reshaped the outlook for both buyers and sellers.
“Now, where we’ve had three rate rises this year, still a little bit of uncertainty – so from that point of view, there has been quite a significant change in the market conditions,” he said.
He also said that, even with some heat coming out of price growth, many households were still constrained by what they could borrow.
[Related: Clearance rates slump below 50% for third week]
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