Lower listings expected across capital cities as public holidays impact activity
Auction activity across Australia’s capital cities is set to dip this week, with 2,574 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, according to CoreLogic.
This marks a 6.4% drop from last week’s 2,751 auctions and a 3.4% decline compared to the same period last year. Melbourne is leading the decline, with auction volumes falling 20.4% week-on-week to 1,144. This is also 15.4% lower than the 1,352 auctions recorded during the same week in 2024.
Meanwhile, Sydney is seeing a resurgence, with 1,010 auctions scheduled — its highest weekly total since early December. This represents a 9.5% increase from last week’s 922 auctions and a 12.5% rise from the 898 held a year ago.
Among the smaller capitals, Brisbane is set to be the busiest auction market with 188 homes scheduled, reflecting a 36.2% surge from last week’s 138. Adelaide’s auction volumes remain stable at 148, up slightly from 146 the previous week.
In contrast, Canberra is seeing a sharp decline, with scheduled auctions dropping 23.1% to 70. Perth has 11 auctions lined up, down from 16, while Tasmania has three, compared to just one last week.
“There are around 1,550 capital city homes currently scheduled for auction next week,” said Caitlin Fono (pictured above), research analyst at CoreLogic Australia. “The drop in volume can be attributed to the upcoming long weekend in four of the eight states and territories.”
Last week saw 2,751 auctions held across the combined capital cities, making it the busiest auction week since early December. This was a 44.3% increase from the previous week’s 1,907 but lower than the 2,853 recorded during the same time in 2024.
The preliminary clearance rate remained above 60% for the third consecutive week, reaching 64.1%, slightly up from 63.8% the previous week. However, it remains below last year’s 68.2% clearance rate.
Melbourne led the auction activity last week with 1,437 homes going under the hammer – the highest volume since late October. Clearance rates edged up to 64.5% from 63.7% the prior week, nearly in line with last year’s 64.7%. Sydney recorded 922 auctions, up from 767 the week before but slightly below last year’s 984. Its clearance rate slipped to 65.3%, down from 67.2% the previous week and significantly lower than the 72.2% recorded in 2024.
Among the smaller capitals, Adelaide was the busiest with 146 auctions, followed by Brisbane (138), Canberra (91) and Perth (16). Perth posted the highest clearance rate at 68.8%, ahead of Adelaide (66.4%), Canberra (59.3%) and Brisbane (52.2%). Tasmania held just one auction last week, which was successful.
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