In Melbourne, 24 homes went to auction over the Easter long weekend, 33 homes went to auction in Sydney, and only one property went under the hammer in Canberra.

The holiday-weekend lack of volume didn't dampen buyer interest.

A three-bedroom family home in Toorak sold for $5 million, or $1 million over the reserve price.

In Sydney, a run-down, freestanding home in Rozelle sold for $1.4 million.

Fewer properties are expected to come onto the market in the weeks ahead, compared with a strong post-Easter bounce last year. Sellers are likely to adopt a wait-and-see approach before putting their property to market, amid economic and regulatory uncertainty, and ahead of the federal election.

"Given that the auction markets aren't performing at the same strength as they were last year, we may not see auctions rise at the same rate, but we still expect volumes to be approaching the mid-1,000 mark over the week following Easter," said a statement from CoreLogic RP Data.

"Auctions and listings in autumn will be 20 to 30 percent lower than over last year", said Domain senior economist, Andrew Wilson.