Marked pick up in auction volume as reporting resumes

The first week of auction reporting for 2026 saw a marked pick up in the number of homes taken under the hammer, with 1,629 auctions held across the capital cities. This was a 17.2% rise from the same week a year ago, with every capital city except Perth recording a rise in auction activity. The previous four weeks saw only 483 auctions held in total.

The rise in activity came with a sharp pick up in the preliminary auction clearance rate, which rose to 69.7%. As a retrospective, clearance rates faded through most of spring and early summer of 2025, with the preliminary clearance rate peaking at 77.9% over the week ending September 21, before gradually reducing to 62.7% at the end of the auction season in mid-December. This week’s 69.7% early clearance rate was the highest since the week ending November 16th, 2025 (70.0%).

The pickup in the preliminary clearance rate could be a sign of vendors adjusting their pricing expectations ahead of an expected rate hike and the potential for a broader easing in purchasing demand.

Across the capitals, Melbourne led the volume of auctions, with 643 homes taken to market last week, a 33.1% lift in the number of auctions compared with a year ago. The preliminary clearance rate also rose, coming in at 69.3%, up from 65.7% in mid-December and the highest early result since the week ending November 23 last year.

Last week saw 468 auctions held across Sydney, a subtle 3.3% rise relative to the same week last year. The preliminary clearance rate rose sharply, reaching 71.3%, well above the 58.1% recorded in mid-December and the highest early auction result since the week ending 19th October last year (74.5%).

Across the smaller capitals, Brisbane recorded the highest number of auctions, with 221 homes going under the hammer last week, a 36.4% rise on the same time a year ago. 75.0% of auctions have reported a successful result so far, up from 60.3% in mid-December and the strongest early result since the week ending 9th November (77.8%).

There were 153 auctions held across Adelaide last week, only 2.0% higher than a year ago. The preliminary clearance rate was the highest of any capital city, at 86.1%, the highest since the first week of April last year.

Canberra saw 135 homes taken to auction last week, a 3.1% rise on last year. The preliminary clearance rate was the lowest by far, at just 39.8%. Mid-2019 was the last time we saw Canberra’s preliminary clearance rate this low.

Only eight auctions were held in Perth last week, four of which were successful. There was just one auction scheduled across Tasmania which was withdrawn.

The volume of auctions should pick up further this week, with approximately 1,735 events scheduled, rising to just over 2,000 auctions next week.