Spring has begun with sellers facing a more cautious and selective buyer pool.
Australia’s spring selling season has opened on a subdued note, with property data firm Cotality recording 1,462 auctions across the combined capital cities, 31.1 per cent fewer than a year earlier.
Auction volumes were unchanged from the preceding week, marking the fourth consecutive week in which activity has remained more than 30 per cent below the corresponding period in 2025.
The preliminary combined-capital clearance rate edged up by 25 basis points to 52.7 per cent, from 52.4 per cent a week earlier.
However, it was only 41 bps above the 52.3 per cent preliminary average recorded through winter.
Buyers gain greater leverage
Cotality Asia-Pacific executive research director Tim Lawless said the persistence of low clearance rates was unusual and reflected a deeper disconnect between market participants.
“It’s pretty rare to see clearance rates this low,” Lawless said.
“Clearance rates persistently holding this low shows a mismatch between buyer and seller expectations. It’s probably another indicator of the market going through a phase of negative movements.”
Lawless said several pressures were converging to restrain demand.
“Foundational challenges around affordability and serviceability, interest rate hikes, some pullback from investors post-budget, all those things combined are creating a softer housing market,” he said.
Rising advertised supply is further changing the dynamic, according to Lawless, reducing the competitive urgency that can underpin strong auction outcomes.
“We’re seeing advertised listing numbers rising which means there’s more supply in the marketplace and of course that means buyers have more choice,” he said.
“This takes urgency out of the market and gives them [buyers] more ability to negotiate.”
Diverging capital-city results
Melbourne’s early clearance rate lifted to 58.2 per cent from 54.9 per cent the previous week, reaching a four-week high, while Sydney’s rate increased by 1.4 percentage points to 57.7 per cent, its highest preliminary result in 18 weeks.
Brisbane meanwhile, recorded a preliminary clearance rate of just 24.8 per cent, its second-lowest result of the year after the 23.8 per cent recorded in the first week of June.
Adelaide’s rate dropped 16.2 percentage points to 34.5 per cent, the city’s lowest early clearance outcome since April 2020.
The auction data aligns with NAB’s September Housing Monitor, which found national dwelling values declined 0.9 per cent in August, the fifth consecutive monthly fall.
The eight-capital-city index dropped 1.1 per cent over the month and is now 4.6 per cent below its peak.
Sydney values fell 1.4 per cent in August and sit 7.1 per cent below peak, while Melbourne prices declined 1.1 per cent and are 6.5 per cent below peak.
Price falls have also extended across the mid-sized capitals, with Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide now 2.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent, and 1.6 per cent below their respective highs.
New housing loan commitments fell 5.2 per cent in the June quarter, led by a 10.2 per cent reduction in investor lending, although commitments remained 6.8 per cent higher than a year earlier.
[Related: Housing downturn set to worsen as approvals collapse]
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make The Adviser a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add The Adviser as a preferred news source.
