Going once, going twice … big number of auctions

NATIONAL auction sales last week hit a number not seen since March last year.

In a solid week of auction activity, some 3479 homes went under the hammer last week.

It was the largest volume of auctions since the week ending March 24 last year when 3519 homes went to auction.

Cotality reports that the preliminary auction clearance rate held reasonably firm in the face of higher supply, rising nine basis points relative to the previous week’s early result to 68.9 per cent.

Melbourne hosted the most auctions last week, with 1838 events held, the highest number of auctions since the week ending December 19 2021,  which saw 2161 houses go under the hammer.

The preliminary clearance rate strengthened to 70.4 per cent, up from 68.1 per cent the week prior.

This week will be a lot quieter across the Melbourne auction market due to the long weekend, with around 550 homes scheduled for auction.

In Sydney, 1182 auctions were held across the city last week, the highest volume since the last week of November in 2025.

The preliminary clearance rate slipped to 65.5 per cent, down from 67.1 per cent two weeks ago and a recent high of 79.6 per cent over the week ending February 8.

This was Sydney’s lowest preliminary clearance rate so far this year.

Cotality said Brisbane was the busiest auction market among the smaller capitals, with 175 homes taken to auction, the second highest volume so far this year.

The early clearance rate came in at 74.8 per cent, a solid result and the highest since the first week of February earlier this year.

Some 137 homes went to auction in Adelaide, with 75.9 per cent reporting a positive result so far, down from 82.6 per cent two weeks ago.

Perth saw 12 homes go to auction, with a preliminary clearance rate of 85.7 per cent and only five  auctions were held across Tasmania.

This coming week the volume of auctions is expected to drop sharply to around 1950 with the long weekend in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and ACT.