Auction activity rose sharply this week, with 2,847 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities. The busiest auction week since the pre-Easter season spike, this week’s auction activity was up 38.3% compared to the previous week (2,059) but was down -2.0% from the 2,905 auctions held this time last year.

With the exception of Perth, auction activity was down across all of the capital cities this week, with 1,676 auctions held across the combined capitals. Down 41.8% from the week prior 2,879 this week’s auction activity is still significantly above the activity seen over the last federal election week (930 week ending 19th May2019).

The combined capitals preliminary clearance rate slipped to its lowest level so far this year, with 62.9% of the 1,343 results collected so far returning a positive result This week’s result is down 1.7 percentage points from last week’s preliminary result of 64.6% which was revised to 60.1% at final figures. This time last year 75.6% of the 2,838 auctions held were successful.

In Melbourne, 709 homes went under the hammer this week, down 45 1 from both the previous week and this time last year, with 1,291 auctions held both weeks With 590 results collected so far, this week’s preliminary clearance rate 61.9% overtook the week prior as Melbourne’s lowest preliminary clearance rate of the year to date Last week’s preliminary clearance rate of 64.0% was revised down to 60.5% at final numbers, while 74.9% of auctions held this time last year were successful.

Sydney had its quietest auction week since the Easter long weekend, hosting 535 auctions this week, down 43.4% from the 946 held the week prior. With 449 results collected so far, Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate rose, with 61.7% sold under the hammer. This week’s result is up 60 basis points from the week prior when a preliminary clearance rate of 61.1% later revised to 53.8% was recorded despite the small lift in clearance rates, Sydney’s withdrawal rate 21.4% continued to hover around the 20 mark for the fifth week in a row. This time last year 76.9% of the 1,103 auctions held in Sydney were successful.

Canberra’s auction clearance rate was steady at 76.0% followed by Adelaide 68.0% and Brisbane 62.9%. Adelaide was the busiest among the smaller capital cities with (196) homes going under the hammer, followed by Brisbane (127) and Canberra (91). Of the 12 auction results collected in Perth so far, three were successful, while no auctions were held in Tasmania this week.

More than 3,000 auctions are scheduled for next week at the moment the highest level of activity since the week prior to Easter.

Note for editors: The above results are preliminary, with ‘final’ auction clearance rates published each Thursday. CoreLogic, on average, collects 99% of auction results each week. Clearance rates are calculated across properties that have been taken to auction over the past week.