Melbourne is undoubetdly the auction capital of Australia. The city has seen the highest number of auction sales over any six-month period, with just over 13,000 homes sold at auction in the year to June 30. The figure was about 12,400 over the same period last year.

REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said traditionally private-sale suburbs were now turning to auctions as buyer numbers trend upwards. “The growth in auction sales in outer Melbourne has helped push the city’s clearance rate to a high 80 per cent, compared to 73 per cent this time last year,” he said. 

Outer Melbourne suburbs have seen a 20 per cent year-on-year increase to 2,263 auction sales this year (compared to 1,879 in the first half 2014), thanks to a growing interest from owner occupiers in areas which are still affordable and within commuting distance of the CBD, and a growing number of investors securing homes in these areas. 

For the second successive year, the 2015 auction capital is Reservoir.

In other results, four eastern Melbourne suburbs recorded the highest year-on-year increase in the number of auctions - Mount Waverley, Wantirna South, Glen Waverley and Bayswater. Others in the top 10, which covered all of Victoria, were Rosebud and Shepparton.

Melbourne’s east has seen some of the strongest growth in buyer activity and in median prices in Melbourne this year, leading to many more auctions in this region, said Raimondo.

One suburb, Wantirna South, has seen a 100% increase in auctions this year - from 36 for the first six months last year to 72 this year.